Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) today applauded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for awarding $29,232,782 to expand access to broadband throughout the state of Nevada.
“Access to broadband is a necessity in today’s economy. Nevadans who don’t have Wi-Fi in their homes can’t get access to tele-health services, pay their bills online, do their homework, learn new skills, apply for jobs, or even check the weather forecast. The announcement that the FCC will allocate over $1.4 billion to communities across America—including over $29 million to Nevada—to expand broadband services is terrific news. I look forward to continue working with the FCC to make sure every person in the state of Nevada has high-speed, affordable internet.”
BACKGROUND:
The Connect America Fund is the FCC’s program to expand access to voice and broadband services to remote communities throughout the country. Through this program, the FCC provides funding to eligible carriers to reduce the cost of building new network infrastructure or performing network upgrades to provide voice and broadband service in areas where it is lacking.
On August 28th, the FCC announced that it had allocated $1.488 billion in support to be distributed over the next 10 years to expand rural broadband service in unserved areas in 45 states through the Connect America Fund Auction program. 103 providers won support from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband in rural areas where, absent this funding, this type of broadband expansion and ongoing service would not be economically feasible.
The auction results show that over 700,000 rural homes and small businesses will gain access to high-speed Internet service for the first time.
More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/auction/903.