Category Archives: Funding

BEAD Rollout: Next Steps & Insights: Meeting notes and video

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Here’s a recording from the webinar yesterday from NRTC…

A description of the session from the hosts…

Join us for an in-depth session with state broadband office directors who will demystify the critical steps leading up to executing BEAD grant agreements, and how NEPA permitting and pre-award spending authorization fits into their state’s timeline. This webinar will provide a clear roadmap of the chain of events and required documentation to ensure compliance and timely execution.

Featured Panel:

  • Teresa Ferguson – (moderator) Senior Director, Broadband & Infrastructure Funding – NRTC
  • Dr. Tamara Holmes – PHD, Broadband Director – DHCD Office of Broadband, Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development
  • BJ Tanksley – Director, Office of Broadband Deployment – Missouri Department of Economic Development
  • Bree Maki – Executive Director – Minnesota Office of Broadband Deployment, MN Dept. of Employment & Economic Development

And some notes I took, mostly when Bree Maki spoke about the situation in Minnesota…

Guidance to awardees

  • Letter of credit
  • Supply Chain Rick Mgmt plan
  • Cybersecurity Risk Mgmt plan
  • Final BSL & CAI Count
  • PM Stamp for Network Design
  • Finalize Budget

For MN

  • Work on narrative
  • Work on budget
  • Don’t start anything
  • Wait on guidance – this will be different that former MN awards
  • Will have a meeting soon

Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers?

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I can only access the abstract for this report – but sometimes the abstract can get you the info you need. (Not that I wouldn’t like to read the full article.) The research article (Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers? Evidence from the Affordable Connectivity Program) looks at the impact of the ACP…

This study investigates the labor market impacts of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the largest U.S. initiative to date aimed at reducing income-based disparities in Internet access. We assess ACP’s effects on labor force participation and employment and test the hypothesis that a key impact mechanism is the expansion of remote work opportunities for program recipients. Using large-scale national datasets, we also explore heterogeneity in program effects by gender, occupation, and connection type (fixed vs. mobile).

They found that…

The results provide robust evidence that ACP participation is associated with improved labor market outcomes, particularly among women and individuals with high-speed residential connections. These gains appear to be driven, in part, by increases in both the incidence and intensity of remote work. The findings suggest that a narrow focus on first-level adoption outcomes underestimates the broader socioeconomic benefits of affordable broadband initiatives. Theoretically, they indicate that the so-called Matthew effect – whereby digitization amplifies existing social inequalities – is not inevitable and can be partially offset by well-designed, targeted policy interventions.

EVENT DEC 2: NRTC BEAD Rollout: Next Steps & Insights Webinar

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The NRTC is holding a webinar tomorrow that comes highly recommended. Bree Maki, director of the MN Office of Broadband Development is on the panel…

BEAD Rollout: Next Steps & Insights

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Join us for an in-depth session with state broadband office directors who will demystify the critical steps leading up to executing BEAD grant agreements, and how NEPA permitting and pre-award spending authorization fits into their state’s timeline. This webinar will provide a clear roadmap of the chain of events and required documentation to ensure compliance and timely execution. Our Host and Panelists Teresa Ferguson – Senior Director, Broadband and Infrastructure Funding – NRTC Dr. Tamara Holmes – PHD, Broadband Director – DHCD Office of Broadband, Virginia Department of Housing & Community Development BJ Tanksley – Director, Office of Broadband Development – Missouri Department of Economic Development Bree Maki – Executive Director – Minnesota Office of Broadband Deployment, MN Dept. of Employment & Economic Development We hope to see you there!

House Commerce Democrats tell Administration to implement BEAD Congress intended

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The Benton Institute of Broadband & Society reports on a letter from the House Commerce Committee…

We write to express our significant concerns with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program under the Trump Administration. It is evident that NTIA’s implementation of the BEAD Program violates the letter of the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] and ignores the intent of Congress, jeopardizing the bipartisan goal of delivering fast, reliable, and affordable internet to everyone in America. We also remind you that any executive order issued by the President cannot override existing laws passed by Congress. This willful departure from the [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s] requirement to consider each technology’s performance and scalability raises serious concerns for multiple reasons. First, neither NTIA nor any Administration official has the authority to ignore the plain language of the statute, let alone Congressional intent. Second, the Trump BEAD Program now resembles the failed 2020 Trump Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program. Third, neither the law nor a directive from the President through an executive order empowers NTIA to impound tens of billions of dollars that Congress authorized and appropriated in full to achieve specific policy outcomes, including universal connectivity, affordability, scalable infrastructure, and broadband adoption. We request that you respond to the following questions in writing by December 12, 2025:

1. Secretary Lutnick promised speed and efficiency in approving states and territories’ final proposals and promised BEAD program funding would be released by the end of 2025. a. Will all states and territories have access to all of their funding by the end of this year?

2. It has been reported that NTIA is using a cost model to determine cost estimates for buildout within each state.

a. Please explain in detail the date and source of data for these models.

b. What exactly is being modeled by this data? For example, is it modeling cost estimates for greenfield fiber builds?

c. How are these data models being applied to each state and territory’s final proposals? Is there a percentage of total cost against which NTIA is benchmarking a state and territory’s final results? Does the benchmark vary by state? Do the benchmarks take into account variations within each state and, if so, how?

d. Cost models are generally used to make predictions about outcomes when actual cost data does not exist. Why does NTIA believe that these cost models are better indicators of costs than the actual competitive bidding processes already conducted by every state?

3. NTIA has overruled states and territories on a granular level by rejecting individual grant awards, forcing states to rebid projects at unreasonably cheap cost thresholds. Please provide a list of all states and territories from which NTIA has rejected project awards or otherwise forced to rebid locations, and for each state or territory provide:

a. A list of all BEAD projects or awards NTIA required to be rebid and the total number of broadband serviceable locations (BSL) in each such award.

b. Each award winner rejected by NTIA, the technology proposed, and cost per passing for each BSL in the rejected award.

c. Each rebid project award winner, the technology proposed, and cost per passing for each BSL in the rebid award.

4. LEO satellite providers face challenges to deliver high-quality connections envisioned by BEAD due to capacity limits, the need for user-end obstructions to be clear, and the potential for performance degradation as more users join a network. Based on final proposals submitted to NTIA to date, reports suggest that more than 750,000 BEAD awards will fund LEO capacity reservation subgrants.

a. For provisionally selected LEO priority broadband projects, what evidence did you require states and territories to show that LEO service can easily scale speeds over time to meet the evolving connectivity needs of households and businesses and support the deployment of 5G, successor wireless technologies, and other advanced services as required by the statute?

b. What, if any, obligation does a LEO provider receiving BEAD funds have to sign up customers for the BEAD funded service? Is the LEO provider entitled to its full BEAD award, even if no BEAD households subscribe?

c. How will NTIA and the state or territory monitor, measure, and ensure LEO subrecipients’ compliance with the BEAD capacity reservation requirements?

d. BEAD subgrants for terrestrial networks will support infrastructure that will be capable of providing high-speed internet service to households in the project area long after those grants are closed out. How will the BEAD capacity reservation grants to LEO providers ensure that households in LEO project areas receive high-speed internet service after those grants close out?

5. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law specifically authorizes states and territories, after achieving full deployment, to spend remaining funds on other statutorily authorized priorities.

a. When will NTIA provide guidance on the use of non-deployment funds?

b. Has NTIA authorized any state or territory to conduct workforce activities in connection with deployment projects? Given the expected demand for a skilled workforce, has NTIA authorized the use of non-deployment funds to develop a skilled workforce?

c. Is NTIA considering clawing back non-deployment funding, or otherwise withholding allocated funds from states and territories? d. Under what legal authority is NTIA or the Department of Commerce granted the ability to impound BEAD funds, including non-deployment funds?

6. NTIA generally includes special award conditions in its grants, which can cover specific project requirements, financial management, reporting, and other terms that go beyond the general grant conditions.

a. Is NTIA considering any revisions or additions to the special award conditions attached to the state and territory grants in connection with approving final proposals? If so, what are those revisions?

b. Please provide a copy of the final proposal’s general terms and conditions and special award conditions, highlighting any new or revised conditions.

7. The Federal Communications Commission has disclaimed its authority to regulate broadband service, and Congress made clear that nothing in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorizes NTIA to regulate broadband rates. The courts have specifically held that states can regulate the provision of broadband service absent federal authority to do so. You recently stated that, “any state receiving BEAD funds must exempt BEAD providers throughout their state footprint, from broadband-specific economic regulations, such as price regulation and net neutrality.”

a. What is the source of NTIA’s authority to effectively preempt the application of state laws to a provider’s entire state footprint, including locations that are not a part of the BEAD program?

8. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law specifically requires states and territories to determine the low-cost broadband service definition. Yet, the Policy Notice specifically prohibits states and territories from setting the low-cost service option and instead requires the state or territory to accept any definition established by the subgrantee.

a. How is the Policy Notice’s requirement for subgrantees to determine the low-cost service option consistent with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law?

b. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires that, upon final proposal approval, you must publish the state’s low-cost broadband definition. It also requires that you establish a website allowing customers to determine whether they are eligible for the BEAD low-cost offer. Will you be making that information available and, if so, when?

Benton looks at WISPs’ place in BEAD

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The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society took a look at whether WISPs are sufficient for BEAD funds…

Sue Marek, Editorial Director of Ookla, has been looking at the speed performance of a variety of broadband technologies over time, including Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite providers. This week, Marek analyzed the performance of eight of the largest U.S. wireless internet service providers (WISPs) over several quarters from Q1 2021 until Q2 2025.

All eight WISPs studied by Ookla improved their speed offerings over the observed period. But are their current speed offerings enough for BEAD?

They take a look at 8 providers representing a variety of WISP setups. You can check out the article for specifics; I’ll just share the results…

Using Speedtest data collected in Q2 2025, Ookla compared the median download and upload speeds of the eight WISPs to determine what percentage of their Speedtest users were receiving the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum standard for fixed broadband speeds (100/20 Mbps).

Ookla found that Starry is able to provide the FCC’s minimum standard for broadband to the highest percentage of users at 66.9 percent. Resound Networks, the second-highest of the eight WISPs and one of those receiving BEAD funds, still only comes in at 41.5 percent of Speedtest users achieving wireless broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps. Wisper and Nextlink, the other two WISPs to receive BEAD funding, have users achieving 100/20 Mbps speeds at rates of 26.0 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively. The rest of the WISPs have lower percentages, with Rise Broadband being the lowest at just 6.7 percent.

So, according to Ookla’s analysis, most broadband consumers who will receive BEAD-funded fixed-wireless internet access service will not achieve the minimum speeds of 100/20 Mbps.

Of the providers mentioned only one is poised to get BEAD funding in Minnesota:

NextLink BEAD awards: Minnesota: $1,541,073 for 2,401 locations

Did your county get any of the $20 million in MN Line Extension grants in the last three rounds?

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Congrats to the counties who have done well getting Line Extension grants. Congrats to the counties who don’t need them. For counties who need help getting better broadband and haven’t been getting Line Extension funding, here’s more information.

The numbers for Line Extension awards by county are now available for the three rounds that have been awarded. For those you don’t wake up Monday looking for the latest updates on MN broadband, I’ll start with a little reminder. Line Extension is a broadband support managed by the Office of Broadband Development. Info on how it works from the Office of Broadband Development…

Residential and business locations that are unserved (lack access to speeds of at least 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload) can apply by entering their information into the Line Extension Connection portal*. This will initiate their interest in receiving broadband internet service and make their location available for consideration. By submitting your address into the Line Extension Connection portal, internet service providers will have the opportunity to review the location and submit a bid based on the cost to bring service to your location. The Office of Broadband Development will evaluate these bids and required provider documentation and make awards to the providers whose bid proposes the lowest cost to the State for extension of the service.

It helps fill in holes in a community where there’s one household that two miles off the road or maybe the six houses on the “other side” of the lake. In light of promise of federal BEAD funding, Line Extension has been the only focus of state funding for broadband this year.

The Office of Broadband has recently shared updated number of how much each county has received. (You can download the spreadsheet for more information.)

Over three rounds, $20,314,363.07 has been awarded. Below are the grant total awards in order of the amount received by county. A few quick notes: not every county has received awards, because not every county needs the help. (At least 10 MN counties have more than 99 percent broadband coverage, as of last year.) Even in this list, the need is variable. You can learn more about the next round of Line Extension grants from the Office of Broadband Development.

County Grand Total (Dollars)
Becker 2850601.5
St. Louis 2619282.61
Crow Wing 2455450.17
Todd 1943261.7
Wabasha 1182818
Morrison 946640
Pine 735691.19
Mahnomen 722588.48
Aitkin 689620.88
Washington 680789
Wright 603805.31
Winona 472220
Scott 410871.52
Otter Tail 384714.84
Kandiyohi 378273.28
Meeker 318997.39
Dakota 283639.8
Hubbard 265000.94
Anoka 246223
Jackson 200561.6
Clay 200522.72
Hennepin 198769
Stearns 144480
Le Sueur 127288.13
Itasca 126357.54
Cass 97449
Rice 85860.66
Carlton 75958.79
Lyon 75474.94
Yellow Medicine 75474.94
Dodge 73944.5
Renville 72395.54
Mower 71966.49
Carver 65664
Swift 59800
Goodhue 59393.27
Douglas 46361.52
Redwood 41853.6
Lake of the Woods 41427
Big Stone 35000
Lac qui Parle 29000
Chippewa 25500
Martin 23220.72
Sherburne 22482.03
Stevens 20000
Kittson 16375.07
Cottonwood 11292.4

 

Sherburne County to expands Arvig Elk River and Haven/Clear Lake Broadband Grant Program

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The Patriot News reports on Sherburne County business…

The board approved amendments to Arvig Elk River and Haven/Clear Lake Broadband Grant Program agreements

Arvig received ARPA Broadband Access Program grants for several projects in 2023. The Elk River Round #1, Elk River Round #2, and the Clear Lake/Haven Round #2 projects were completed (or are very near to completion) under budget.

Staff recommended utilizing the remaining funds ($453,300) to expand the original scope of each project. The revised project scope would serve an additional 71 passings, which include 10 unserved and 61 underserved properties in Elk River, Haven, and Clear Lake.

Minnesota applies for $1B in rural health care funds to offset Medicaid cuts especially in rural MN

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I wrote about the $1 billion application earlier; MPR News takes a deeper look…

Minnesota has applied for a share of $50 billion in federal funding for rural health care that was approved by Congress as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Minnesota Department of Health applied for $1 billion over five years. Its 62-page application lays out detailed plans for the funds, including fellowships aimed at getting more medical students training and working in rural areas, adding more telehealth opportunities and providing more preventative care screenings in local venues, such as schools, pharmacies and tribal clinics.

It is in reaction to losing funds in other places…

The Minnesota Hospital Association estimates that the state could lose $2.4 billion in federal health care funding in the first year alone, fiscal year 2028. The MHA also finds that 140,000 Minnesotans on Medicaid could lose their healthcare coverage while another 60,000 Minnesotans will likely drop their ACA health insurance because of the rising costs.

It sounds like the impact could be harder felt in rural Minnesota…

About 30 percent of Minnesotans live in rural areas of the state, where the health care system has been severely strained in recent years.

There’s a shortage of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals, and the number of rural medical clinics and hospitals closing is on the rise. The MDH wrote in its application for the Rural Health Transformation Program funding that 34 out of Minnesota’s 95 rural hospitals are financially distressed, which means they’ve had four or more years of negative operating margins in the past eight years. Just this year, Mayo Clinic Health System announced it was closing six rural clinics in southeast Minnesota.

According to the application, Minnesota’s rural residents on average must travel 64 minutes for medical-surgical care, whereas people in the state’s urban areas travel just 19 minutes on average for care.

MN Office of Broadband Development Performance Report for 2025

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Being honest, I’m not sure when the MN Office of Broadband Development Performance Report for 2025 came out, but it seems to cover what’s been budgeted as well as what’s been spent. Here’s the purpose form the report itself…

This report details the State of Minnesota’s use of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund (CPF) allocation. The State’s goal with the CPF investment is to expand broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved communities through three broadband infrastructure grant programs and one community facilities grant program. The Minnesota Office of Broadband Development (OBD) administers the broadband infrastructure programs, and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) administers the Community Facilities program.

And key findings…

Key Outcomes and Opportunities Broadband projects that have been administered utilizing CPF dollars are expected to reach a total of 31,732 passings across the state.

In the dates covered by this report, OBD has processed reimbursements and administered project costs of $29,020,361.20 in grants through B2B, $19,055,545.37 in grants through LD, and $3,244,240.68 through LE. COMPLETION STATUS ACROSS 94 OBD PROJECTS Completed Projects More than 50% complete Less than 50% complete Not started 1 project 11 projects OBD rolled out the third round of Line Extension, which awarded $7,554,872.31 to 16 providers and will serve 1,087 previously unserved locations in Minnesota. OBD plans to use funds from earlier rounds of B2B, LD, and LE projects, that completed under budget to re-roll out a fourth round of Line Extension Fall 2025. See Budget Modification for details.

Key outcomes across the state with broadband projects include:
• Most recent mapping data from December 2024 (Minnesota’s State Program Dashboard) shows the state of Minnesota is overall, 90.32% served (with speeds of at least 100 by 20 Mbps), 7.33% unserved, and 2.36% underserved for wireline service.
• Local partners matched in funding CPF Line Extension Rounds 1 through 3 a total of $5,069,552.87
• Combined total local matching funds for all CPF projects is projected around $151 million

As well as use of funds

OBD Programs
The following table captures the expenditures for the reporting period. CPF dollars have been spent on
administrative costs, which include contracting with grantees, compiling progress reports, monitoring
site visits, compiling progress reports, federal reporting and on-site field validations, as well as infrastructure project costs. Of the total CPF dollars allocated to the state in the amount of $180,702,620.00, OBD has reported total expenditures through FY 2025 of $69,475,144.63 or about 38% of state funds.
FY25 Minnesota Office of Broadband Development CPF funding

Budget Modification
OBD requested and gained approval of a net zero budget modification, increasing the LD and LE budgets, and decreasing the B2B budget to cover the following cumulative budget changes of $1,287,927.00.

The budget modifications were completed to align grant balances with legislative directive and to adjust project funding from the original budget. The modification reflected the opportunity OBD saw in the higher demand for LD and LE, via interest and higher applications, from unserved Minnesotan residents and businesses.
As B2B, LD and LE grants close with unspent funds, OBD plans to regrant out LE funding and will complete budget modifications for any B2B and LD with remaining balances, moving the funding over to the LE program. OBD plans to open a Round 4 LE in the fall of 2025 to utilize these funds prior to 12/31/2026 use of funds deadline.

Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program (B2B) and Lower Population Density Pilot (LD) Program
The Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program was created in Minn. Stat. 116J.395 in 2014. The legislative focus of this grant program is to provide financial resources that help make the business case for new and existing providers to invest in building broadband infrastructure into unserved and underserved areas of the state. The Border-to-Border Broadband Grant Program has been funded with state general fund revenues and a combination of both state general fund revenues and federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Sec. 604 Capital Projects Funds (CPF).

Round 7 B2B: Among the active projects: 2 grants are 65%-75% complete, 19 grants are 80% to 99% complete and 4 grants are 100% complete. There are 19 field validations that will occur by fall 2025.
Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were $29,020,361.20, bringing the reimbursement total to 43.4%
of the total $66,901,598.00 obligated funds.
Round 8, B2B and LD: Among the active B2B projects: one grant is 1% complete, one grant is 70% complete, and one grant is 83% complete. Of the active LD grants, one grant is at 25% complete, one grant is 60% complete, 3 grants are 75-83% complete, and 2 grants are at 90% complete. Many of these will be ready for field validations in the fall 2025. Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were
$19,055,545.37, bringing the reimbursement total to around 42.9% of the total $44,453,612.00 obligated funds.

Broadband Line Extension (LE) Connection Program
In the 2022 Legislative Session, the Minnesota OBD was directed to create a new program, the Broadband Line Extension Connection Program. The purpose of the program is to award grants for the extension of existing broadband infrastructure to unserved locations. An unserved location is a location that does not have a wired broadband service of at least 25Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. See Appendix B for the summary table of LE projects and below for a status summary.

Round 1 (LE): Construction is complete for all 19 projects. Completion was due by December of 2024. As of 6/30/2025, 17 grants are closed, and 2 grants are pending close. Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were $2,282,165.48; bringing the reimbursement total to 70.5% of the total $3,238,849.14 obligated funds.
Round 2 (LE): Construction is completed on all 13 projects. Completion was due by June of 2025. As of
6/30/2025, 5 grants are closed, and 8 grants are pending close. Reimbursements to grantees for FY25 were $962,075.20; bringing the reimbursement total to 21.7% of the total $4,430,273.51 obligated funds.
Round 3 (LE): Construction for all 16 projects is to be completed by December 2025; As of 6/30/2025, 7 grants are under 50% completed and 9 are over 50% completed, with 4 of those grants pending close.
No reimbursements have been made to these grantees as of 6/30/2025.

NTIA Announces Tribal Broadband Program Reforms to Maximize Tribal Connectivity and Reduce Red Tape

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From the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)…

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today that it is working on reforms across its Tribal broadband programs to reduce red tape for Tribal governments, promote flexibility, and align NTIA’s grant opportunities to better serve Tribal connectivity. Specifically, these reforms will streamline the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) and the native entity set-aside from the Digital Equity Act through a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to support Tribal broadband access.

NTIA intends to launch the new NOFO in Spring 2026 and will make available any remaining tribal broadband funding (estimated to be at least $500 million).

“NTIA’s goal is simple: stretch every dollar as far as possible to achieve universal Tribal connectivity and better serve Tribal communities’ needs,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth. “This strategic realignment of our Tribal grant programs will reduce administrative burdens, prevent duplication, and ensure consistency across NTIA’s broadband initiatives. Most importantly, it will maximize the impact of this funding, helping to connect as many Tribal households as possible.”

NTIA will continue to award equitable distribution grants, but all further infrastructure and use and adoption grants will be awarded under the Trump Administration’s new rules. NTIA will also soon be announcing a formal Tribal Consultation to allow Tribal governments to provide input on the next funding round.

The funding for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program stems from the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ($1 billion) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ($2 billion). In total, NTIA has already made 275 awards totaling $2.2 billion with TBCP funding. Through TBCP’s first NOFO, NTIA awarded more than $1.87 billion in funds through 226 projects impacting more than 400 Tribes. NTIA’s second TBCP NOFO has awarded $360 million in funds across 48 projects. NTIA is continuing to make Equitable Distribution awards under the second NOFO. NTIA is not rescinding any obligated awards.

Senate votes for agriculture bill with $109 million for rural broadband

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Broadband Breakfast reports…

The Senate voted 60-40 Monday to pass a continuing resolution that would reopen the government, plus some appropriations bills. One of the pieces of legislation would provide about $109 million for rural broadband programs.

The Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect program would see $50,750,000 of that. The bill would direct the funding to rural areas in which at least 90 percent of households lack access to speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload, provided there isn’t an existing state or federally funded deployment already planned. Recipient ISPs would have to deploy 100 * 20 Mbps.

Another $40,767,000 would be made available for distance learning and telemedicine grants, also managed by the USDA.

Concerns over recommendations to reallocate IIJA/BEAD funds to deficit reduction

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Senator Ernst has proposed “To amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to require remaining funds under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program to be used for deficit reduction.”

We have heard concern in Minnesota because this would impact the BEAD funds that we are not being allowed to use for infrastructure investment in broadband. Bree Maki from Office of Broadband Development informed us that, “For Minnesota it is potentially a loss of more than $255 million (at this time). That is just an estimate because we are still waiting for NTIA to make decisions on our final proposal.”

Senators Cantwell and Schatz ask for answers on Trump Administration’s delay of nearly $1 billion in tribal broadband grants

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The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation reports…

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Vice Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, today demanded answers from Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Arielle Roth about why the Trump Administration has frozen the distribution of nearly $1 billion in congressionally-approved broadband grants to Native communities.

NTIA has frozen the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP), leaving roughly $980 million in Round 2 funding unobligated despite applications closing in March 2024. Additionally, $294 million in grants announced in December 2024 have not been distributed, and existing grant recipients report concerns that NTIA may impose new requirements or claw back previously awarded funds. …
To date, the TBCP has awarded $2.24 billion to 275 Tribal projects across the nation, including approximately $100 million to 19 projects in the State of Washington and $89 million to projects on Hawaiian Home Lands in the State of Hawai’i.

Pew looks at what Broadband Workforce Expected needs to do to meet BEAD requirements

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Pew Research reports…

The success of federal broadband investments—especially the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program—depends on whether the U.S. has enough trained workers to build and maintain a workforce. Evidence suggests that worker shortages, misaligned training timelines, and inconsistent data could delay states from meeting BEAD’s ambitious deadlines.

On June 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce updated the BEAD implementation guidance. The new rules require states to reopen provider selection, which could delay funding in some places and accelerate it in others—making worker readiness more urgent. In addition, the suspension of nondeployment funds reduces resources that states had planned to use for workforce development.

Workforce challenges have already been widely cited as risk factors in almost every state. According to an analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts, 41 states and Washington, D.C., identified workforce challenges in their BEAD or Digital Equity Act (DEA) plans: DEA was a separate Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) program that provided support for digital adoption and workforce training, but was canceled in May 2025.1 Those challenges included barriers for workers trying to join the industry and a lack of detailed federal job classification data—suggesting that workforce shortages are not only local but a potential nationwide barrier to BEAD implementation.

They mention some work that they feel might streamline the process…

Key findings include:

  • The pool of skilled telecommunications workers is shrinking just as demand is rising sharply. Policymakers should examine the barriers to growth for specific broadband-related occupations to meet both short- and long-term needs.
  • Training requirements mean new workers cannot be mobilized quickly, raising risks of deployment delays.
  • Competitive wages and benefit packages are crucial as telecommunications employers compete for workers across industries or those who are supporting other infrastructure projects funded through the IIJA.
  • Inconsistency in jobs classifications in federal data obscure workforce needs. Greater collaboration between employers and federal and state governments is needed to standardize data and improve planning.

And, in case you’re thinking about the workforce or jobs…

In assessments of workforce needs specific to BEAD, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said the following workers are needed to expand broadband infrastructure:

  • Equipment operators.
  • Fiber and wireless technicians.
  • Inspectors.
  • Laborers and manual movers.
  • Master and stage electricians.
  • Network architects and coordinators.
  • Radio frequency and field engineers.
  • Software engineers.
  • Structural engineers.
  • Surveyors and drafters.
  • Trenchers.
  • Trucking crews.2

 

St. Louis County summarizes ARPA spending: $54.5 million on landfill, roads, housing, childcare and broadband

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Citizen Portal, which is an AI powered media resource, reports,

County administration presented a final summary of how St. Louis County used $54.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, describing investments in solid waste infrastructure, roads, broadband and social services meant to address pandemic impacts.
Administrator Gray told the board the county received ARPA funds in two tranches in 2021 and 2022 and that staff worked to meet complex U.S. Treasury reporting and compliance deadlines. Gray said the board intentionally focused funding on four areas: pandemic response/recovery, economic impacts, support for service delivery, and infrastructure (roads, water/sewer and broadband).
Key allocations described by administration included roughly $12.5 million for upgrades to the county’s large solid waste landfill to address forever chemicals; about $7.25 million for roads (including a roughly $3.5 million reclaim-and-overlay project to complete County Highways 115 and 77 between Cook and Tower, with widened paved shoulders for pedestrians and cyclists); broadband investments in communities that lacked service; and investments in county buildings and transfer stations.
Administration also cited investments in youth and recreation projects that benefited 25–30 communities countywide, including $830,000 for childcare expansion in partnership with the Northland Foundation (Administration described roughly $750,000 of that as contributed by the foundation), and a range transitional housing project in Virginia and Hibbing still under way. Other ARPA-supported projects included behavioral health urgent care in Duluth in partnership with the Human Development Corporation (HDC), fairgrounds improvements and a solar expansion project in Mount Iron.
Administrators said roughly half of the ARPA allocation went to infrastructure, highlighted pandemic-related staff costs and outreach that were supported without drawing on levy dollars, and noted that more than 100 unique projects or investment categories were advanced. Board members repeatedly praised county staff for project management and compliance; several commissioners also recognized former deputy administrator Brian Fritzinger and audit staff for their roles in tracking projects.