Today’s Regulatory Mix: Indiana Law Prioritizes Broadband Grants, Republican Infrastructure Plan Includes $65 Billion Towards Broadband
Indiana Law Prioritizes Broadband Grants
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed HB 1449 into law, prioritizing projects that are eligible for broadband grants from the Rural Broadband Fund and prioritizing areas that are unserved by broadband. The new law assigns the highest priority for rural broadband grants to projects that extend broadband service to areas where Internet service is unavailable or where the only available connections to the Internet are at speeds of less than 25 megabits per second downstream (rather than 10 megabits per second downstream under current law) and less than three megabits per second upstream. Further, the statute defines an “eligible broadband project” for the deployment of broadband infrastructure as “(A) to buildings used by public school corporations primarily for educating students; (B) to rural health clinics; (C) to ensure that resident Indiana students less than 23years of age have access points providing a connection to eligible broadband service; and (D) in rural areas in Indiana.”
Republican Infrastructure Plan Includes $65 Billion Towards Broadband
Republican Senators Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Roger Wicker (Miss.), Ranking Member of the Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee, Pat Toomey (Pa.), Ranking Member of the Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Committee, Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, and John Barrasso, Ranking Member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced a $568 billion infrastructure proposal yesterday. The largest infrastructure investment that Republicans have ever put forth, the proposal includes $65 billion for broadband infrastructure projects.
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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.
