Resources

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund was the Commission’s next step in bridging the digital divide. On August 1, 2019, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to establish the $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to bring high speed fixed broadband service to rural homes and small businesses that lack it. On January 30, 2020, the Commission adopted the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Report and Order, which establishes the framework for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Learn more below.

The ReConnect Program offers loans, grants, and loan-grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in areas of rural America that currently do not have sufficient access to broadband. In facilitating the expansion of broadband services and infrastructure, the program will fuel long-term rural economic development and opportunities in rural America. Learn more below.

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Congress has taken a significant step forward in achieving the Administration’s goal of providing broadband access to the entire country. The IIJA sets forth a $65 billion investment into broadband, for which $48.2 billion will be administered by NTIA’s newly established Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth. Learn more below.

Over the last few months, NTIA’s National Broadband Availability Map (NBAM) has added Nevada, Louisiana, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico to its growing roster of participants. To date, the NBAM includes 38 states, two U.S. territories, and five federal agencies: US Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). Learn more below.

The ACCESS BROADBAND Act, enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, mandated that NTIA produce an annual report to Congress. The report highlights the accomplishments of NTIA’s Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) over the past year, covers investments in federal broadband support programs and Universal Service Fund (USF) programs, and provides recommendations to improve efforts to track broadband spending and outcomes. Developed in collaboration with interagency colleagues, the report is part of NTIA’s continued effort to improve the availability of broadband-related data, enhance coordination across federal agencies that support broadband, and promote transparency in government spending. Learn more below.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that it is requesting public comment on a wide range of policy and program considerations associated with new broadband grant programs authorized and funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL): the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, the Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program, and the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program. Learn more below