The FCC has authorized more than $240 million in funding over 10 years to expand rural broadband deployment in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. The investments are intended to connect more than 100,000 unserved rural homes and businesses in those states. Broadband providers are scheduled to begin receiving funding later this month.
"Today's announcement is another important step in our efforts to close the digital divide and connect rural Americans with the economic, healthcare, and educational opportunities made possible by high-speed broadband," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to see firsthand how funding provided through the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II auction is having a positive impact on the Wind River Indian Reservation in rural Wyoming. And the funding we are authorizing today will bring those same benefits and connect more rural Americans with digital opportunity."
This is the ninth wave of support from the 2018 Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers must build out to 40% of the assigned homes and businesses in the areas won in a state within three years. Buildout must increase by 20% in each subsequent year, until complete buildout is reached at the end of the sixth year.
The funding being authorized in New York is the third wave of matching funds provided through the FCC's partnership with the state's New NY Broadband Program. New York funding is through a separate process set up by the Commission upon request from and in partnership with the state's New NY Broadband Program. In total, the FCC has authorized $62.4 million in federal funding through that partnership to connect 45,835 homes and businesses in New York.
In total, the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction in 2018 allocated $1.488 billion in support over the next 10 years to expand broadband to more than 700,000 unserved rural homes and small businesses in 45 states. The FCC has now authorized nine waves of funding, with total authorized funding so far of more than $1.4 billion. Funding rounds will continue until the authorization process is complete.