NTIA Makes $1B Available in Digital Equity Act Grant Program

Nearly $1 billion in Digital Equity Act funding is now available, NTIA announced Wednesday. The agency's notice of funding opportunity kicked off the competitive grant program (see 2403290039). Meanwhile, in a Tuesday letter, numerous state and national broadband industry associations alerted Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that low-cost requirements in the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program could discourage participation in it.

The agency made the first funding opportunity in its $1.25 billion competitive grant program available to local governments, tribal entities, certain nonprofit organizations, anchor institutions, local educational agencies and workforce development organizations. NTIA encouraged potential applicants to explore partnerships.

"With additional access and expanded skill sets, more families will be able to thrive in our modern economy by getting an education, expanding their businesses or staying connected to their communities online," Raimondo said. NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson added that it's "making a historic, billion-dollar investment to help our most unconnected populations succeed online."

The grants will support programs aimed at facilitating broadband adoption, educational and employment opportunities, digital literacy and workforce development programs. The funding will also help covered populations gain access to low- or no-cost hardware and software. Applications for most applicants are due by Sept. 24. U.S. territories have until Oct. 22. NTIA said it expects to begin making awards by "winter of 2024" on a rolling basis.

“I wrote the Digital Equity Act before the pandemic because even then it was so glaringly apparent that we needed to do more to make sure that everyone can make the most of high-speed internet once they have it,” Sen. Patty Murray D-Wash., said. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, called the announcement a "game changer that will help power 21st century life."

"No one should be denied the opportunities the digital economy provides" and "we have made significant strides in bridging the digital divide and connecting communities across the nation,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.

Meanwhile, several national ISP groups and 25 state industry associations warned Raimondo about problems they're seeing with BEAD. “It is with both a sense of alarm and urgency ... that growing numbers of the hundreds of local and regional rural broadband providers we represent are increasingly concerned about their ability to participate" in the program, said industry officials from groups including USTelecom, NTCA, WTA, ACA Connects and the Fiber Broadband Association. They added, “Without significant and immediate changes of approach toward its implementation, we are concerned the program will fail to advance our collective goal of connectivity for all in America.”

NTIA guidance for states to set a $30 monthly rate for low-cost service options “is completely unmoored from the economic realities of deploying and operating networks in the highest cost, hardest-to-reach areas that BEAD funding is precisely designed to reach,” the letter said. NTIA may be pressuring some states that chose a higher price to reduce the rate to $30, it added. “This contravenes the clear language of the Infrastructure Act” that precludes NTIA from regulating broadband rates. In addition, requiring providers to lock in the low-cost rate for 10 years after deployment is “unprecedented and economically unworkable,” even with adjustments for inflation, it said. NTIA didn’t comment.