The text of an amendment to the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Act, which changes the state’s definition of “unserved area,” expands how state and federal dollars can be used on broadband projects, and increases the percentage of broadband project costs the state can fund.

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The strategic plan for the Alabama Digital Expansion Division is designed to help the state achieve its broadband goals, including facilitating broadband expansion, particularly in rural, underserved, and unserved areas; addressing obstacles to broadband adoption; and developing funding strategies for deployment.

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This blog post examines emergency legislation passed in Arkansas in February 2021 to give local governments greater powers in speeding up the deployment and adoption of broadband. The author hopes that the bill, passed unanimously in both state houses, reflects a larger change to remove restrictions on local internet choice.

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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offers enhancements to the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program so that it can better aid in the delivery of broadband to some of the areas with the worst connectivity in the country. Some of these enhancements include time extensions for grantees, more flexibility, and an extra $2 billion in funding.

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This paper uses data from Form 477 and the Census of Agriculture to measure how broadband connections affect the production and sales of agricultural products. The author found that farms that had faster speeds of connectivity had greater crop yields and fewer operating expenses.

A report that estimates that the FCC’s Form 477 data underrepresents by half the number of Americans that lack broadband access. The researchers drew their conclusions from a sample of more than 11,000 addresses and also determined that the FCC’s reporting flaw was greater in rural communities.

This report summarizes Oklahoma's objectives and highlights activities to enhance broadband access and adoption, specifically in areas identified as unserved and underserved. The chief initiatives are to enhance mapping of unserved areas, assist with local broadband planning, and develop programs to incentivize broadband coverage.

This resource includes a snapshot of federal broadband data in each state or territory, background on state data-collection initiatives, and local insights that help illustrate why persistent data inaccuracies put unserved and underserved populations at a disadvantage and keep them locked out of funding opportunities.

The New America Open Technology Institute details how community and tribal broadband networks have succeeded in connecting unserved communities, challenged incumbent private-sector providers to deliver higher-quality and more affordable internet, and expanded opportunities for education, job creation, and economic growth. While more than 900 communities are served by such networks today, as many as 20 states have laws preventing localities from forming such networks: this report argues these restrictive state laws should be repealed.