Across the nation, broadband availability is growing as more locations access high-speed Internet, a result largely due to action taken by states and the private sector.
A new report from the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School found the number of locations still eligible for funding from the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is down 69 percent since funding was initially allocated. BEAD received $42.5 billion in funding from the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“None of this is BEAD’s doing as ISPs [Internet service providers] have not sat idly by waiting for funding from this program,” said the report, Sizing Up Another BEAD Round Using the Ever-Changing BEAD Map, released Sept. 9.
Some 79 percent of locations served by BEAD in 2022 are now served or covered by programs other than BEAD, according to the report.
Investment from ISPs in the last few years has topped $90 billion, said Michael J. Santorelli, director of the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute, and one of the authors of the report. The spending is aided by other programs like the federal $10 billion Capital Projects Fund.
“Some states added their own funds to bolster the federal funds they had available,” Santorelli said in an email.
States such as California have been building out “middle-mile networks,” which amount to thousands of miles of infrastructure allowing Internet providers to bring service to homes and businesses.
California now has 1,250 miles of operational middle-mile, with another 4,550 miles in progress, said Parisa Soultani, a public information officer with the Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative at the California Department of Technology (CDT).
“CDT coordinates closely with [the California Public Utilities Commission] CPUC to ensure middle‑mile infrastructure can support BEAD-funded last-mile builds,” Soultani said in an email.
Other states including North Carolina have turned to funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to connect more than 232,000 homes and businesses, state officials said. North Carolina allocated $1.53 billion in BEAD funding and is working to bring to contract the $318 million in BEAD projects resulting from the initial Benefit of the Bargain round.
In another example, Indiana is investing $350 million in broadband development, namely through state grant programs like Next Level Connections and the Indiana Connectivity Program.
“The digital divide has closed by some 69 percent since BEAD was created,” Santorelli said, indicating the job of the BEAD program has become “both easier and harder.” Easier because there are fewer locations in need of service, but harder when considering that those still unserved are some of the hardest to reach.
“The job is harder, though, because the remaining locations that lack broadband are much more likely to be in more far-flung places, or less densely clustered,” he said. “This means the cost to serve them, at least with a terrestrial connection, increases.”
Another headwind facing BEAD is the rising cost of equipment and labor, and the longer the program drags on, the more pronounced these headwinds become, Santorelli said.
As to whether any of these initiatives for expanding connectivity across the country are leading to an increase in home Internet subscriptions, the data is still unspecific, Santorelli said.
On the one hand monthly broadband prices are not rising as steeply as other costs, meaning a home Internet connection makes up a smaller proportion of total household expenditures than it did in the past.
And for those households that continue to forgo a broadband connection, cost may not be the primary obstacle, he said, but instead, “other barriers around things like relevance and valuing a broadband connection, safety concerns, etc.”
Skip Descant writes about smart cities, the Internet of Things, transportation and other areas. He spent more than 12 years reporting for daily newspapers in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and California. He lives in downtown Yreka, Calif.