From CNET: President Joe Biden on Monday said that over $42 billion in aid will be spread across the US to expand broadband access.
As part of the Biden administration's goal to connect everyone to "reliable, affordable high-speed internet by the end of the decade," according to a press release, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program will allocate the funding among the states, territories and Washington, DC.
At minimum, territories will get $27 million and states $107 million, up to a maximum of $3.3 billion; each award is listed on a separate press release. "Put simply, high-speed internet is a necessity in today's society," said Mitch Landrieu, senior adviser to the president and White House infrastructure coordinator.
The administration noted that 8.5 million households and small businesses are located in areas without access to high-speed internet, which is around how many are listed on the Federal Communications Commission's new maps showing connectivity gaps around the US. The FCC had released its first versions of the revamped maps in November, which swapped out the large census blocks used in previous versions to drill down to show whether 114 million individual homes and businesses actually have connectivity.
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