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The money, and where it stalled
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, BEAD's $42.45 billion, the NTIA approval process, the Affordable Connectivity Program's June 2024 exhaustion, E-Rate, the FCC's 2024 definition change, and the national broadband map.
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$42.45 Billion Appropriated, Ground Not Yet Broken
Traces the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021) authorisation of $42.45 billion for broadband construction through the NTIA's BEAD programme, and the gap between that appropriation and actual deployment by 2025. Covers the structure of the programme — formula allocations to states, required initial proposals, challenge periods — drawing on NTIA published documents.
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Twenty-Three Million Households, Then the Funding Ran Out
Records the Affordable Connectivity Program from its 2021 start through its June 2024 exhaustion, citing FCC and USAC enrollment figures.
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Every State Has a Plan. Not Every Plan Has Broken Ground.
A state-by-state account of the NTIA's BEAD approval process — initial proposals, final proposals, challenge procedures and the timeline from passage to construction authorisation.
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The FCC Moved the Bar to 100/20 in 2024
Explains the FCC's 2024 revision of its fixed broadband benchmark from 25/3 Mbps to 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, citing the commission's published order.
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What the Map Says an Address Has, and How to Dispute It
Describes the FCC's national broadband map — its data sources, the provider self-reporting that underlies it, and the challenge process by which an address marked served can be contested.
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E-Rate Has Been Wiring Schools Since 1997
Records the E-Rate programme as a component of the Universal Service Fund — its 1997 origin, the categories of eligible expenditure, and the scale of annual disbursements as published by USAC.