GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — On Monday, White House administration announced $42.45 billion in grants will help provide access to the internet for people in need of it.
White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitchell Landrieu said the grant is hugely important because of the demands of modern living.
“High-speed internet is not a luxury; it's a necessity,” Landrieu said.
The program is called B.E.A.D., which stands for Broadband Equity Access and Deployment.
Its purpose is to provide money to every state in the U.S. to improve high-speed internet accessibility. Of the $42.45 billion, Wisconsin will be receiving approximately $1.1 billion.
High-speed internet is important for many reasons, including allowing business, medicine, and education to keep up with modern demands.
It is also vitally needed by people living in rural areas, like farmers who want to use the technology for things like keeping track of their cattle.
“To have any kind of commerce they need broadband, so this is going to be a huge boost,” said Representative Mark Pocan of the 2nd District in Wisconsin. “This is a big win for rural America”
Senator Tammy Baldwin also spoke about the program. She said that over 650,000 Wisconsinites lack access to high-speed internet.
She said she worked to push the FCC to release an updated national broadband map that showcased which parts of the country had the greatest need for broadband coverage.
Based on that map, a bipartisan infrastructure law was outlined that seeks to help unserved or underserved areas that need internet.
“This is an investment in our Wisconsin families. This is an investment in our Made in Wisconsin economy. And this is an investment in our future – and I am proud to help deliver it,” Baldwin said.
More internet means more jobs and accessibility to necessary services, but it also means things like streaming services can be brought to areas that can't currently use them.
“These days, having broadband is like having water or electricity in your home; you absolutely have to have it,” Pocan said.
Landrieu said that construction is expected to begin early next year to install fiber cables in rural areas.
He called it a five-year build and said it would use materials made in America, which would also help to increase American jobs.
“Essentially 80% of that is digging dirt. A lot of it is manufacturing the cable and then just the hard work of laying down where it needs to be based on the mapping that has been done. And then we expect the work to be complete 100% by 2030 across America,” Landrieu said.
