The Oklahoma Broadband Office announced its final proposal on government funding for expansion of broadband into rural parts of the state is available for public comments.
The proposed Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Final Proposal is now posted at this link. The document is the last step in implementation of Oklahoma’s plan to utilize BEAD grant funding for statewide broadband access as administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Public comment will be accepted until September 1, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. at BEAD@broadband.ok.gov.
Congress appropriated $42.45 billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to administer the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58), which became law in November 2021. The BEAD Program is the single largest federal broadband investment to date.
Congress directed NTIA in the IIJA to make grants to 56 states and territories (hereinafter “states”) “to bridge the digital divide” by facilitating “access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet” throughout the United States, particularly in “communities of color, lower-income areas, and rural areas.” NTIA anticipates issuing notices to each state of the estimated BEAD amount available to it by June 30, 2023, followed by approximately four years of grant disbursement and program implementation.
The Oklahoma Broadband Office, in preparation for this final phase identified more than 9,000 Community Anchor Institutions that included schools, libraries, local, state, federal or Tribal government buildings, health care centers, public safety builidings, public housing organizations , community support organizations. In all, a total of 7,940 locations will be considered as CAI for potential funding opportunities, according to the proposal.
