Notice of Funding Opportunity – 7
has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet. Full participation in our twenty-first
century economy requires no less. Digital equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation,
employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services. Yet affordable, reliable, high-
speed internet access has remained elusive to many for too long, because they live in a location
where no service is available, the speed or quality of the service available is unreliable, or the
offering available is unaffordable or inadequate. Internet connectivity itself is a necessary, but
not sufficient, condition for eradicating the digital divide. Many on the wrong side of that divide
require equipment, digital skills, financial resources, and more to realize the internet’s full
potential. Those who lack these resources face substantial barriers to digital equity, even in
places where fast broadband connections are physically available. This digital divide is
particularly acute for communities of color, Tribal nations, and lower-income areas and spans
both urban and rural areas of the country.
Passed on a bipartisan basis, the Infrastructure Act includes $42.45 billion to create the BEAD
Program. The law charges NTIA—the President’s chief advisor on telecommunications and
information policy matters, housed within the United States Department of Commerce (DOC)—
with administering this program.
This NOFO describes how, in partnership with other federal actors, as well as States, Territories,
Tribal nations, cities, towns, counties and other localities, the non-profit sector, academia, unions
and worker organizations, and industry, NTIA intends to administer the BEAD Program. This
program will lay critical groundwork for widespread access, affordability, equity, and adoption
of broadband, create good-paying jobs; grow economic opportunities, including for local
workers, provide increased access to healthcare services, enrich educational experiences of
students, close long-standing equity gaps, and improve the overall quality of life across America.
The Program’s principal focus will be on deploying broadband service to unserved locations
(those without any broadband service at all or with broadband service offering speeds below 25
megabits per second (Mbps) downstream/3 Mbps upstream) and underserved locations (those
without broadband service offering speeds of 100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream).
Eligible Entities that demonstrate they will be able to ensure service to all unserved and
underserved locations will be free to propose plans that use remaining funds in a wide variety of
ways, but NTIA underscores its strong preference that Eligible Entities also ensure deployment
of gigabit connections to community anchor institutions such as libraries and community centers
that lack such connectivity. Eligible Entities can apply any additional funding to pursue eligible
access-, adoption-, and equity-related uses, as well as any other uses approved by the Assistant
Secretary that support the Program’s goals.
With respect to the deployment of last-mile broadband infrastructure, the Program prioritizes
projects designed to provide fiber connectivity directly to the end user. It also requires all
projects to provide a low-cost option to eligible subscribers, requires all states to have plans to
address middle-class affordability, and further prioritizes proposals that improve affordability to
ensure that networks built using taxpayer dollars are accessible to all Americans. The framework
set out below will provide Eligible Entities flexibility to pursue deployments in the manner best
suited to their populations – including, for example, the deployment of Wi-Fi service within
multi-family buildings.