When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was signed in late 2021, it included $42.5 billion for broadband internet access as part of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. The program aims to ensure that broadband access is available throughout the country. This effort differs from previous federal broadband programs because it promised to allocate the funding to individual states and allow them to figure out the best way to distribute it.

Nearly two years later, the federal government informed the states exactly how much money each will be getting. The sizes of the awards are significant: 19 states will receive more than $1 billion, and the average award across the 50 states is $817 million. Texas received the largest allocation at more than $3.3 billion.

The states are working with the federal government to develop plans for how they will distribute those funds. The states had until Dec. 27, to submit their initial proposals. As of Nov. 15, no s