North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has announced $206 million dollars in grant funding that will help expand internet access to 69 different counties in North Carolina.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on August 31 that the agency is preparing to provide $791 million of new funding for state broadband buildouts through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced $143.6 million in funds awarded from the Internet for All Initiative’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) to Tribes in California and Washington.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said on August 17 that all 50 states, along with the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories, have filed applications for initial planning funds under the government’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program that aims to distribute $42.4 billion of broadband-related grants to underserved or unserved communities.

Legislation recently introduced in the Senate aims to create a Federal grant system to help fund the construction of new broadband networks in parts of the country that either don’t have much broadband service currently available or that have service speeds of less than 100 megabits per second (Mbps) upload and 20 Mbps download.

Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., have joined with Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., to introduce the Proper Leadership to Align Networks (PLAN) for Broadband Act, which calls on President Biden to develop a national broadband strategy.

While the Biden administration is pushing hard to increase broadband service access across the country, the White House needs to come up with a national strategy to do so on tribal lands where broadband access has traditionally lagged, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has announced more than $127.6 million in broadband grants for local jurisdictions, Internet Service Providers, and community organizations, as well as education-specific grants that will expand infrastructure and provide wireless devices and equipment to Maryland’s K-12 students.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has put the agency’s wheels in motion to consider a four-fold increase in its definition of internet service speed that qualifies as “broadband” service.

Colorado is launching a new grant program to support broadband expansion and modernization through the deployment of more than $500 million from Federal programs to broadband infrastructure projects to bridge the digital divide.