Strong Foundations
North Dakota built a solid foundation of successful efforts aimed at providing Internet access to all its citizens. Thanks to the dedicated long-term commitment of North Dakota’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs), North Dakota is leading the nation in broadband deployment with more than 95 percent of the state’s homes having access to at least 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) broadband service and more than 70 percent having access to service capable of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps).
STAGEnet: All public section anchor tenant locations have a minimum of 1 Gbps and can acquire 100 Gbps if required. North Dakota is the first state to achieve 1Gbps service delivered to every K-12 district.
As of December 2023, there were less than 5,000 serviceable addresses that could not acquire 1 Gbps service. Ninety-seven percent of North Dakotans had access to 100Mbps service or faster.
Public Engagement
North Dakota’s primary activities during the first year of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity Programs focused on expanding the capacity of its broadband office and completing a significant list of stakeholder engagement activities. The state also collaborated with Tribal governments to identify the most effective approach to deployment of BEAD and Digital Equity funding. The strong support of ongoing state and federal funding, in particular the current Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) programs, all work together to serve as a strong foundation for furthering North Dakota’s vision of statewide broadband.
Continued Momentum
Since 2021, the state has updated its broadband goals and received a substantial boost in funding. The combination of state appropriated funds and funds from the Capital Project Fund continued the expansion of infrastructure buildout by delivering service that reliably met or exceeded symmetrical speeds of 100 Mbps fiber to the premises to each location, including homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions.
This momentum has been further strengthened with the addition of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (CAA) program grants, from which the state and Tribal Nations have received more than $33.8 million in combined funding in 2023. Funded projects through BIL include a more than $19 million Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure (Middle Mile) Program award to DCN LLC which will complete a statewide backbone upgrade, two Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) awards totaling more than $9 million, and a combined $5.5 million in planning grants for the BEAD and Digital Equity Programs.