The vast majority of Americans have access to the internet and, over 30 years into the U.S. web experience, no doubt take it for granted.
That’s not the case for over 8.5 million Americans who don’t have internet access or for the millions more who have to settle for limited or unreliable Internet coverage.
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Now, in a bid to emulate Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s 1930s campaign to provide electricity to rural America, the White House is funding a massive effort to provide internet access to any American without – and it plans to get the job done by 2030.
“Today, the Department of Commerce announced funding for each state, territory and the District of Columbia for high-speed internet infrastructure deployment through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program,” the White House announced in a June 26 statement. “(That’s) a $42.45 billion grant program created in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by the Department of Commerce.”
19 U.S. States received BEAD funding, including Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Texas and California top the list of funding assets at $3.1 billion and $1.9 billion. Each U.S. state will receive at least 107 billion in program funding.
"It's the biggest investment in high-speed internet ever,” President Biden noted in a White House statement. “Because for today's economy to work for everyone, internet access is just as important as electricity, or water, or other basic services.”
Approximately 7% of the U.S. either doesn’t have Internet access at all or is significantly underserved, the White House said. Minimum web access requirements are connection speeds of at least 25 megabits for web downloads and 3 Mbps for downloads, government authorities reported.
"Put simply, high-speed internet is a necessity in today's society," said a senior adviser to the president and White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu at Monday’s White House announcement.
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