Funding Program Home
NTIA administers grant programs that further the deployment and use of emerging technologies, spectrum, broadband and other technologies in America, laying the groundwork for sustainable economic growth; improved education, public safety, and health care; and the advancement of other national priorities.
Innovation Fund
Over the next decade, the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will work to catalyze the development and adoption of open, interoperable, and standards-based networks through the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. Authorized under the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and funded through the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, this ten-year grant program will help drive wireless innovation, foster competition, and strengthen supply chain resilience. It will also help unlock opportunities for companies from the United States and its global allies, particularly small and medium enterprises, to compete in a market historically dominated by a few suppliers, including high-risk suppliers that raise security concerns.
High-Speed Internet
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes a significant investment of $65 billion to help close the digital divide and ensure that all Americans have access to reliable, high speed, and affordable broadband. This investment builds upon the funding for broadband deployment provided in the American Rescue Plan, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the FCC’s Universal Service program, and USDA’s Rural Utilities Service broadband programs. This historic investment will lay critical groundwork for widespread access and affordability of broadband, creating new jobs and economic opportunities, providing increased access to healthcare services, enriching educational experiences of students, and improving overall quality of life for all Americans.
Additionally, NTIA continues to monitor the following:
- The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the State Broadband Initiative (SBI) (formerly called the State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program) invested approximately $4 billion in projects throughout the United States to support the deployment of broadband infrastructure, enhance and expand public computer centers, encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service, and promote statewide broadband planning and data collection activities. The State Broadband Initiative was also responsible for creation and maintenance of the National Broadband Map.
- The State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP), a $121.5 million formula-based, matching grant program administered by NTIA. The program is designed to assist regional, state, local, and tribal government entities as they plan for a nationwide public safety broadband network. The SLIGP 2.0 round of grants provided up to $43.4 million in matching grant funds to provide continued support to States and territories.
- Previously awarded grants from the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP), which was terminated by Congress in fiscal year 2011. This program has helped public broadcasting stations and other organizations construct facilities to bring educational and cultural programs to the American public.
- The Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) Grant Program, helped first responders better communicate during disasters. NTIA, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, awarded nearly $1 billion to fund projects nationwide. Program funding ended September 30, 2012.
- The Low Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program (LPTV), which helps operators of analog low-power television stations in eligible rural communities to upgrade their facilities to digital broadcast capacity.
- A grant to the Metropolitan Television Alliance to deploy and maintain a temporary digital television broadcast system in the New York metropolitan area.
- Grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and NTIA to the states and U.S. territories to improve 911 services.
- A grant to the Public Broadcasting System as part of the Warning Alert and Response Network.
Prior initiatives include the Digital TV Converter Box Coupon Program and the Technology Opportunities Program.
Related content
Building Community Networks in Wisconsin
A dozen years ago, a group of technology officials in the neighboring Wisconsin cities of Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls began meeting to share ideas on how to prepare their computer systems for Y2K. The group included officials from the city and county governments, local school districts, community libraries and medical institutions. And while Y2K came and went without incident, it soon became clear that the collaboration had the potential to turn into something much bigger.
Today, that group – called the Chippewa Valley Inter-networking Consortium, or CINC – operates an extensive broadband network that connects 150 schools, libraries, hospitals, clinics, technical colleges and university campuses across the Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls region. And now, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program is expanding that original “community area network” and replicating its success in three other Wisconsin communities that see CINC as a model for establishing a 21st Century communications infrastructure.
Building Community Capacity through Broadband, or BCCB, is using $30 million in Recovery Act funding to lay down more than 600 miles of fiber that will extend the network in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls and create new community area networks in Platteville, Wausau and Superior. The public-private project is being spearheaded by the University of Wisconsin-Extension program, but has many partners, including dozens of local governments and school districts.
White House to Honor NTIA Recovery Act Broadband Grantees as Innovators in Infrastructure
NTIA's Recovery Act broadband infrastructure projects are connecting communities across the country to high-speed Internet, creating jobs, and supporting economic growth.
Tomorrow, the White House will recognize two individuals who helped develop and are now implementing broadband infrastructure projects that are key to revitalizing their communities. Joe Freddoso, President and CEO of MCNC, and Donald Welch, President and CEO of Merit Network Inc, will be among 11 local leaders honored at the White House as “Champions of Change” who are using innovative techniques to develop valuable projects helping to improve America’s infrastructure.
Merit Network and MCNC both received Recovery Act grants from NTIA for broadband infrastructure projects that are currently underway and connecting community anchor institutions, including schools, libraries, and hospitals, to high-speed Internet. Under the leadership of Welch and Freddoso, Merit and MCNC have put hundreds of people to work and are laying the groundwork for sustainable economic growth and improved education, healthcare, and public safety. These projects emanated from the communities where they are being carried out; each project is designed to best meet the needs of local people and institutions and to get the biggest bang for every grant dollar. Merit’s project is serving Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsula, and MCNC is serving communities across North Carolina.
BTOP Case Study One: Joe Freddoso, President and Chief Executive, MCNC
As part of our BTOP series: Tales from the Front Lines, today we are highlighting North Carolina infrastructure grantee MCNC.
MCNC, a nonprofit broadband provider that operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), is using Recovery Act funds to deploy or upgrade 2,600 miles of fiber in rural areas across the state. The network will initially deliver speeds of 10 gigabits per second and eventually scale to a 100-gigabit-per-second middle-mile network. It will extend the reach of the existing NCREN system to connect nearly 2,700 additional anchor institutions, including libraries, hospitals and public safety facilities. The new network will also deliver faster and more reliable connections to K-12 schools, colleges and universities already on NCREN. And it will be an important source of dark fiber for commercial Internet providers that want to expand their own systems. MCNC's project is already creating construction jobs and jobs for local vendors such as CommScope in Hickory, N.C., which is supplying fiber and other materials. It is also laying the groundwork for economic revitalization in places such as Kannapolis, N.C., a former textile mill town that is reinventing itself as a biotechnology and life sciences hub.
