Playbook Aims to Give States Leg Up on Broadband Infrastructure Funding

WASHINGTON — Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, unabashedly calls it “the broadband moment.”

Thanks to the availability of once-in-a-generation scale funding and an administration committed to extending high speed internet into every underserved community it can, the time certainly has come for states to determine the most efficient and effective way to use the rich source of funding known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The nearly $2 trillion legislation reserves about $65 billion for broadband, including $42.45 billion for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

Overseen by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the program will make grants available to states to fund broadband deployment and adoption in unserved and underserved areas.

To make the task of navigating it all that much easier, NTCA and the Fiber Broadband Association have released the Broadband Infrastructure Playbook for its members. Developed in cooperation with the telecom consulting firm Cartesian, it’s meant to be the comprehensive guide to all things federal dollar and broadband related.

“Our goal with the Broadband Infrastructure Playbook is to provide a valuable resource to the states and territories by outlining key parts of the IIJA, sharing best practices from state broadband programs that have worked well in the past, and seeking to promote consistency and the best possible results out of this process,” Bloomfield said in a written statement.

“If done right, the IIJA could provide a digital foundation for economic growth and innovation across the country through infrastructure that is built to last,” she said.

The 42-page guidebook outlines and recommends broadband grant program structures consistent with IIJA objectives and identifies successful examples from the high-performing state broadband programs over the past several years.

“America’s future depends on universal connectivity to essential, reliable, robust infrastructures and with the rapid expansion of the global digital economy, broadband infrastructure is now more critical than ever,” said Gary Bolton, president and CEO at the Fiber Broadband Association in a written statement.

“The industry now has the resources, resolve and direction to achieve this goal. The Fiber Broadband Association and NTCA have teamed together to help ensure the states and broadband providers have the tools they need to best leverage this opportunity so that everyone, everywhere can access a brighter, more equitable future,” he said.

Dan can be reached at dan@thewellnews.com and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.