BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Biden administration this week announced how much each state will receive from the NTIA's BEAD Program. The program is specifically addressing those unserved and underserved Americans who don't have any, or reliable, internet access.
New York State will receive a little more than $664M.
"It's historic level of support for broadband from the President and Congress," said Joshua Breitbart. "We're looking forward to the next steps that begin with this allocation."
Breitbart is the Senior Vice President for the ConnectALL office at Empire State Development. ESD oversees the majority of broadband related projects in New York.
According to FCC data, approximately 140,000 locations in New York State are considered unserved -- meaning they only have one internet service provider offering speeds of 25Mbps or less.
As for the underserved locations, the FCC data suggests there are over 37,000. Statewide, there are over 4.6M locations.
With the announcement for the forthcoming state funding, the ConnectALL office must now figure out how they plan to spend the money, and which areas will get connected.
"We have 180 days to develop an initial proposal, which then will, once the NTIA approves, allow us to begin a grant making process," Breitbart said.
The state will also have to submit a final proposal to the NTIA after a challenge process of the initial proposal.
While the process established by the NTIA is designed to ensure that unserved, and underserved, locations get connected, the process has created a significant gap in when people will get connected as a result of this funding.
"We might be looking at 2025," Breitbart said.
The ConnectALL office, however, does have other projects, such as connecting affordable housing units, which it is currently working on while they work on their BEAD proposal.
"You'll continue to see us with shovels in the ground, connecting people to the internet, as we progress toward securing this significant contribution from the federal government," Breitbart said.
State lawmakers, however, say they want to keep an eye on how the ConnectALL office plans to use the BEAD funding.
"We saw this before, with the previous governor who declared that we all had internet, even though we did not obviously," said NYS Senator Rob Ortt.
Senator Ortt represents Niagara and Orleans Counties, which historically have some of the highest unserved and underserved rates in the state.
"It's on us, to provide some oversight," Ortt said. "When I say us, the legislature as a whole, it has to be Democrats and Republicans in both houses, who decide we want to play the role of oversight, and not just blaming the governor when it goes wrong."
Assemblyman Mike Norris also called for his colleagues to ensure the funding is properly spent.
"I think from our standpoint, the biggest thing we can do is continue to be loud about it, continue to express our concerns about it, and urge the chairs of the respective committees to have hearings on this to make sure that these dollars are being funneled quickly into these projects," Norris said.
The ConnectALL office is still conducting its Internet Access Survey and the public is invited to fill it out.