Many rural areas across the country do not have broadband access – and with buckets of funding from public and private initiatives, the time to address this problem is now. 

Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave of Indiana spent several years solving digital access issues for around 20,000 households in the unincorporated Vanderburgh County she serves. State government had previously rejected Musgrave’s grant applications that would aid this connectivity issue, leaving her with limited options to aid her constituents — of whom one in three do not have access to high-speed broadband, according to AT&T. 

“The state statute kicked our application out. We actually had to withdraw it,” said Musgrave during a policy forum called “Connecting Communities to Internet for All,” led by USTelecom and AT&T last Friday.

“In desperation, we turned to some local funds … we spent that on improving a substandard network for a tiny little geography in the corner of our county,” she said. “But it was better than nothing for the folks who were just so internet-desperate out there.”

Musgrave and other speakers from AT&T and USTelecom wasted no time in discussing roadblocks faced by legislators at the local level when it comes to delivering broadband connectivity to rural areas.

They also discussed the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program implemented by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).  

BEAD, funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Law under the Digital Equity Act of 2021, rolled out on May 13 and will provide over $42 billion to expand internet access through funds, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs in the U.S. 

“[There is] a very intentional outreach to bringing in communities of color, the elderly, rural communities, [and] communities that have traditionally been left behind,” noted Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and NTIA administrator, Alan Davidson, during the forum.

BEAD prioritizes unserved locations with no internet access and underserved locations, according to the Internet For All’s BEAD Overview.

The program currently has 36 applicants out of 56 U.S. states and territories eligible. However, local lawmakers are finding themselves mired in the technicalities of applying for the grant, according to Musgrave.

“Suddenly, we’re being asked to be experts on something called the internet,” she said. “I was lucky to have great support… But I know that is not happening in other counties like mine. … State officials have a tremendous job in front of them in translating this money down to the local level to help local officials properly ask for it.” 

Private internet providers have invested about $80 billion to improve digital access across the U.S. in the last two years. Last year, AT&T invested around $24 billion, according to Jeff Luong, president of AT&T’s broadband access and adoption initiatives, who also participated in the forum.

“We will be leveraging the funding that’s coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Luong. “And by taking advantage of both our own private funding and public funding, we are able to deploy the state-of-the-art fastest internet service that is available today in Vanderburgh County.”

Under the American Rescue Plan implemented during the pandemic, the Capital Projects Fund is another source of funding intended to help increase internet access. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Virginia, and West Virginia are the first states to get a cut of the $10 billion rollout. 

Back in Vanderburgh County, a $40 million total contribution from AT&T ($30 million) and the American Rescue Plan ($10 million) has gotten the ball rolling to build high-speed broadband to the community’s homes and businesses, according to speakers during the forum.

“These homes that do not have broadband right now cannot and should not wait much longer for that perfect connectivity to get to their home,” said Luong. “Wherever opportunities arise, [that] allow us to move like they did in Vandenberg, Indiana, we need to bias toward action and get that moving as quickly as possible.”