The U.S. government recently announced a plan called Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) to provide reliable, affordable high-speed Internet to everyone in the country by the end of the century.
On Monday, President Joe Biden said high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury, but an “absolute necessity,” and he pledged to have every U.S. home connected to the Internet by 2030 using American-made cable.
The plan allocates $42.45 billion (currently about RMB 305.64 billion) to build infrastructure in places where high-speed Internet service is not available or is too slow. The program will allocate funds ranging from $27 million to $3.3 billion to each state, depending on the needs of each region. Alabama, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington are the ten states that will receive the most funding. In addition to the states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, such as American Samoa and Puerto Rico, will also receive funding.
The White House says this is the largest Internet funding program in history. Over the next three weeks, President Biden, Vice President Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, Cabinet members and senior administration officials will travel the country touting the benefits of the program, including investments, jobs and new projects. Simply put, high-speed Internet is a necessity in today’s society,” said Mitch Landrieu, senior advisor to the president and White House infrastructure coordinator. Just as President Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Act made historic investments in rural areas, bringing electricity to nearly every home in America, President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to leaving no community behind and giving everyone in America access to high-speed Internet.”
Funds from the BEAD program will be used to deploy or upgrade broadband networks throughout the United States and territories so that all people can enjoy decent Internet, an upgrade that is expected to be completed by 2030.
