The Biden administration announced $930 million in grants Friday to expand middle-mile broadband as part of the Infrastructure Law. The NTIA said 260 applicants submitted funding requests of more than $7.47 billion. Grants will be distributed across a total of 350 counties in 35 states and Puerto Rico.
The Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program invests in projects that build regional networks that connect to national internet networks. Middle-mile internet infrastructure carries large amounts of data over long distances, increases capacity to local networks, boosts network resiliency, lowers the cost of bringing high-speed internet service to unconnected households, and helps connect unserved regions to the internet backbone, notes NTIA.
The $1 billion Middle Mile program funds construction, improvement, or acquisition of middle mile infrastructure, along with administrative costs associated with running the program. Middle-mile projects do not directly connect end-user locations. Details of the awards are available at: InternetForAll.Gov.
“The Middle Mile program is a force multiplier in our efforts to connect everyone in America,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “Middle Mile infrastructure brings capacity to our local networks and lowers the cost for deploying future local networks. These grants will help build the foundation of networks that will in turn connect every home in the country to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service.”
- The projects will deploy over 12,000 miles of new fiber that will pass within 1,000 feet of 6,961 community anchor institutions.
- All projects use future-proof fiber as the primary technology.
- Awardees are investing an additional $848.46 million of outside match funding into the projects.
- Grants span from $2.7 million to $88.8 million, with an average award amount of $26.6 million.
Additional grants will be announced on a rolling basis. Eligible awardees for the program included states, Tribal governments, utility companies, telecommunication companies, and nonprofit entities. For a full list of eligible entities visit: InternetForAll.Gov.
