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NMI awarded $80M to boost access to high-speed internet
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has awarded $80.7 million to the CNMI to enable the Commonwealth to deploy affordable, reliable high-speed internet service to everyone.
The grant award, which NTIA announced yesterday, is part of the “Internet for All” initiative that is a key component of President Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda. U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the allocations to the CNMI and other states yesterday at the White House.
The grant enables the CNMI to use funding from the $42.45-billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to administer programs within the Commonwealth that connect all of the “unconnected” and to give everyone the skills, devices, and access they need to make the most of the affordable, reliable high-speed Internet.
“The $80-million grant allows all residents, businesses, agencies, and organizations in the CNMI expanded access to more affordable, high-speed internet that connects them to information and to the tools and resources they need to thrive in their jobs, their studies, business growth, or their organizational missions,” said Gov. Arnold I. Palacios. “We are thankful to the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the NTIA for the historic funding support for broadband access.”
A CNN report states that Texas will receive the largest BEAD award amounting to more than $3.3 billion, followed by California, which could receive more than $1.8 billion.
Glen Hunter, who is the special assistant for Broadband Policy and Development, said that Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang’s “commitment to putting a focus on broadband within this administration has directly resulted in this momentous funding opportunity for the Marianas.”
The CNMI’s Broadband Office is in the process of developing a CNMI Broadband Five-Year Action Plan that will identify areas that need improved broadband access and adoption, and it will develop strategies to address these needs. This funding will be used to execute various facets of that plan.
