North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis (R) announced that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is allocating $1.53 billion to North Carolina as part of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. The funds will be used by the state of North Carolina to expand access to high-speed internet through planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs. Funding comes directly from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was based on a bill that Sen.Tillis helped negotiate, write, and pass. The new law resulted in the largest investment to expand access to high-speed internet in the nation’s history.
“I’m proud to have worked on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will deliver more than $1.5 billion to expand access to high-speed internet across the state,” said Senator Tillis said in an official statement. “This is a game-changing investment that will help bridge the digital divide for North Carolina’s rural communities and deploy the resources that families need and deserve.”
According to a press release from North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s (NCDIT’s) Division of Broadband and Digital Equity has developed a draft five-year plan outlining how the agency will invest BEAD funding across North Carolina.The division will submit the five-year plan to NTIA by July 29 as part of the process for North Carolina to access its allocated BEAD funding.
“State and federal partnerships are critical to helping us close the digital divide and we are grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for this historic investment to expand high-speed Internet access in North Carolina,” said Governor Cooper. “Through this program, we will continue to make tremendous progress in making sure every household and business in our state is connected.”
The broadband division recently announced that its challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map aided in surfacing 115,000 additional North Carolina homes and businesses that do not have access to high-speed internet, adding more new unserved locations to the map through this process than any other state.
Since 2004, O’Hern has worked with political campaigns in roles ranging from major projects involving nationwide digital marketing for U.S. Presidential candidates, U.S. Congressmen, state governors, and state representatives. O’Hern’s journalism background includes news reporting and editing for various organizations and news publications in Alabama and Florida since 2002. O’Hern graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala with a degree in journalism and a minor in political science.