High-Speed Internet For All -- June 26, 2023

Locator: 45074TECH.

High-speed internet.

Another win for America.

I think this has been talked about for decades. I remember wondering why South Korea was years (decades?) ahead of us in this arena. The US shouldn't be #2 in anything. LOL.

No president was able to get it funded until Mr Biden.

Period.

Dot.

Link here.

President Joe Biden today announced how $42 billion in funding to bolster broadband internet access will be allocated. The investment, which was funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to give all Americans access to high-speed internet by 2030.

Texas is getting the largest slice of funding with $3.3 billion. Eighteen other states are receiving over $1 billion, including Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington.

Every state is getting at least $107 million. Several US territories are included in the program, with $27 million allocated to the US Virgin Islands receiving and $334 million earmarked for Puerto Rico.

"With these allocations and other Biden administration investments, all 50 states, DC and the territories now have the resources to connect every resident and small business to reliable, affordable high-speed internet by 2030," the White House said in a statement.

Last year, the White House announced an initiative that would allocate at least $100 million to each state through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The remainder of the funding was on hold until the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) drew up a more detailed coverage map showing which homes and businesses lacked high-speed internet access. The funding will be allocated based on the map.

The FCC released its first draft of the overhauled map, which incorporates more granular data, in November. Still, politicians on both sides of the aisle were concerned it left out millions of businesses and homes and urged the White House to delay the broadband funding efforts until issues were resolved.

Another one of my pet peeves. With as "rich" as the US is, we still don't have high-speed internet for all in this country. It's not as if we don't have enough money.