Key Points

  • NTIA at the Department of Commerce has released its first report on federal broadband funding required under the ACCESS BROADBAND Act.
  • The report tracks broadband spending across the federal government for the previous year, and provides an assessment of the economic impact of that deployment.
  • The report highlights many of the challenges in tracking broadband deployment, particularly a lack of standardization across government agencies, and the fact that broadband deployment is occasionally one of several permissible uses of government funding programs.1
  • The report concludes that it is too early to assess properly the economic impact of FY2020 broadband deployment funding, as the economic effects may take many years to materialize.

Background

The ACCESS BROADBAND Act, passed by Congress as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, created the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to oversee NTIA's broadband grant programs. NTIA established OICG in August 2021, replacing the former Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications. The Act requires OICG to report annually on efforts across the federal government to fund broadband deployment, and the economic impact that such funding is having across the country.

Findings

The report looks at 66 programs implemented by 13 federal agencies administering broadband funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. However, the report cautions that variation in program types (e.g., loans vs. grants; appropriated vs. obligated funds), types of broadband connections that are funded and agency data collection practices limited the ability to find exact spending totals and draw conclusions from the data. The report also takes a measured view that it is premature to draw economic inferences from the data, as there is a lag between spending on broadband deployment, broadband adoption and the economic effects that broadband may have. Accordingly, the report recommends that the federal government adopt more consistent data collection and analysis methods across agencies, and incorporate more data reporting requirements into broadband programs as conditions of federal funding. Highlighting the need for additional data sources, the report suggests that the forthcoming broadband maps from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be one of the most important sources of broadband data, though it is currently unknown when those maps will be completed.

Next Steps

OICG will continue administering the NTIA grant programs, and the forthcoming $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment program, incorporating the report's findings. The FCC is currently developing new, more accurate broadband maps that will shed greater light on which areas of the United States still lack adequate broadband connectivity and should be eligible for federal funding. Next year's report may adopt a different data reporting methodology, and have more concrete conclusions regarding the economic effects of broadband deployment.

Footnote

1 For instance, the American Rescue Plan Act provides $360 billion to states, localities and the Treasury Department for a variety of purposes—from health care to drinking water and broadband.

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