From the Office of Broadband Development…

Broadband Matters: Office of Broadband Development Updates

• Digital Equity Capacity Grant, $12 million approved for Minnesota  
• Digital Opportunity update
• BEAD Challenge, resources + update
• OBD, out of office!

Digital Equity Capacity Grant, $12 million approved for Minnesota

Last week, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved and recommended for award the Digital Equity Capacity Grant application from Minnesota, allowing the state to access more than $12 million to implement its Digital Opportunity Plan. This federal funding comes from the $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program, one of three Digital Equity Act grant programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The MN Office of Broadband Development will use this funding to implement Minnesota’s Digital Opportunity Plan, which outlines how the state will empower individuals and communities with the tools and skills necessary to benefit from meaningful access to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.

“Minnesota’s Digital Opportunity Plan is a framework to empower all Minnesotans with access, knowledge and resources to use broadband,” said Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Matt Varilek. “The Digital Equity Act Capacity Grant funding will help us significantly move the needle on ensuring people statewide can connect with each other, achieve their digital technology goals, reap the benefits of a digital economy and harness the full power of broadband for education, health care, business and work.”

You can follow updates on this work and read Minnesota’s Digital Opportunity Plan on OBD’s webpage here. Questions about this program can be directed to deed.broadband.equity@state.mn.us.

Digital Opportunity update

OBD is thrilled to receive NTIA’s approval for the Digital Equity Capacity Grant. This represents a significant step forward toward implementing MN’s Digital Opportunity Plan.

It is important to note this approval centers on the programmatic elements of OBD’s application. That said, the budgetary components of the application still require federal approval before OBD can determine program timelines, award amounts, etc. OBD is working closely with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at U.S. Department of Commerce to move budgetary approval forward. Information on this will be shared as it becomes available.

BEAD updates + resources

The BEAD Challenge process (Challenge, Rebuttal, Adjudication) has concluded per NTIA’s guidelines and the resulting list of eligible locations is being cross checked to remove locations that are subject to an enforceable commitment (deduplication process).

A reminder on updates and next steps for BEAD in Minnesota:

• OBD is also working to establish a Grants Management System for the BEAD program. When that system is available, a prequalification process will be established where interested applicants can submit specified documentation to support their financial, managerial, technical and operational capacity to participate in the BEAD program as a subgrantee. OBD hopes to implement the prequalification process by January 2025 which will be part of the overall process for applying for federal BEAD funding.
• Upon NTIA’s approval of the final list of BEAD eligible locations (NTIA’s timeline is unknown but anticipated by March 2025), OBD will open the window for the first BEAD grant application round. The first round (11a) will be focused on fiber projects and applicants will be able to select their own project area. For BEAD subgrantee selection rounds 2 and 3 (Rounds 11b and 11c), NTIA is requiring that OBD establish the project areas for which an application can be submitted. Rounds 11b and 11c will also include consideration of alternative technologies (coax, fixed wireless, satellite) per NTIA’s requirements.
• To meet the NTIA’s deadline for submission of the Final Proposal by October 3, 2025, including meeting with NTIA, notifying the provisionally selected subgrantees 14 days after that meeting, and then a 30-day public comment period, the three rounds of subgrantee selection are anticipated to occur between March and early August 2025.

Additional resources for BEAD are on the OBD BEAD webpage, including Minnesota’s BEAD Initial Proposal Volume 2, officially approved by NTIA on October 3, 2024 and the BEAD FAQ.

OBD, out of office!

Office of Broadband Development team members, October 2024.

The Office of Broadband Development Team attended their annual staff training last week, held this year in Clearwater at the Telcom Construction Training Center. The team had the opportunity to learn about Telcom construction’s history and training practices through hands-on instruction; the work and current climate research from the University of Minnesota’s Climate Adaptation Program’s Brian Shekleton; and on the digital equity landscape in Northeastern Minnesota from Wilderness Health’s Zomi Bloom and Chance Lasher, as well as the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Dr. David Beard.

A huge thank you to Telcom Construction for hosting and our guest speakers for joining us!

Also in the past month, staff from OBD staff have gotten to visit sites and check on the progress of projects with Border-to-Border (B2B) funding and celebrate rural broadband expansion. This has included:

• Performing a field validation with Connected Nation staff at Benton Golden Spike.
• Visiting a Midco B2B Round 7 project in Isanti County.
• Presenting on digital equity in Minnesota at the 2024 Minnesota Library Association (MLA) conference in Rochester.
• Attending a groundbreaking ceremony in Brooten, MN for the Stearns County West Phase 2, a Runestone Telecom Association project (pictured right), a fiber grant expansion project in Nicollet County for Nuvera (pictured below), and offering congratulations to Comcast for completing a B2B project in Corcoran and celebrating with a ribbon cutting ceremony.