North Carolina to receive $82 million to expand broadband access

The state of North Carolina will receive $82 million to expand high-speed internet access to 16,000 homes and businesses throughout the state, the White House announced today.

The funds come from the Capital Projects Fund, a $10 billion program that will help build the infrastructure necessary for people to access high-speed internet for work, education and health monitoring. Funds target rural, Tribal and low- and moderate-income communities.

Overall, North Carolina will receive about $3 billion in federal funds to connect all residents to affordable, reliable high-speed internet service.

That funding includes over $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan to connect more than 300,000 additional homes and businesses to high-speed internet by the end of 2026. Construction is underway in 90% of North Carolina counties, with a significant portion of the funds coming from the Treasury Department’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.

The state is also set to receive about $1.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program to connect all remaining homes, small businesses, schools, healthcare facilities and libraries to high-speed internet by the end of 2029.

The Bead program will make about $42.45 billion available to all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and five territories for projects that deliver high-speed internet to areas that previously did not have broadband access.

States learned how much they would receive in June from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is overseeing the distribution.

To receive the funding, each state and territory must create proposals that detail plans for statewide broadband. The proposal process involves 10 steps, including creating two volumes, conducting public comment periods and receiving approval from the NTIA.

All states and territories met the Dec. 27 deadline to submit both volumes to the NTIA. North Carolina is one of 26 entities who have completed 7 of 10 steps.

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