The 21st Century Broadband Deployment Act, introduced Wednesday by Republican Rep. Richard Hudson of the state’s 8th congressional district, establishes grant programs to improve internet access in underserved communities.
For many people, having access to high-speed internet became an even larger issue during the COVID-19 pandemic as work and school became virtual.
Hudson says the global health crisis’ impact on internet connection highlighted “new haves and have-nots in America.”
“I am determined to help close the digital divide and expand access to broadband across rural communities in North Carolina and around the country,” the Cumberland County representative said in a statement.
With the new bill, two grant programs will be created within the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA. The administration will use maps created by the Federal Communications Commission to ensure broadband reaches rural areas around the country, according to Hudson’s office.
Hudson’s legislation is part of the American Broadband Act introduced in May by other House Republicans in the Energy and Commerce Committee. The act designates $20 billion for grant programs over five years for NTIA to carry out the grant programs. Another $3 billion is set to help local providers deploy broadband to different communities.
Hudson’s Federal Broadband Deployment Tracking Act is also part of that bill. The measure would streamline the process of expanding broadband by requiring NTIA to submit a plan to Congress within 180 days of enactment describing how they would track the acceptance, processing and disposal of requests for communications
Last year, the congressman helped residents in Moore County with a $3 million project that provided internet to 1,300 homes. The joint project was backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Randolph Communications, a local telecommunications provider based in Asheboro.
The efforts to support the expansion of broadband infrastructure have been bipartisan during the pandemic as leaders at the federal and state level seek to improve internet access.
In Fayetteville, another option for fiber-optic internet, television and phone services will be under MetroNet, an Indiana-based company, which planned to spend more than $70 million on the project to service Fayetteville, Hope Mills, Linden, Wade, Stedman, Godwin, Spring Lake, Eastover, Falcon, Vander, other unincorporated towns in Cumberland County and parts of Hoke County.
© 2021 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
