BATON ROUGE — The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) unveiled a dashboard that shows Louisiana has made more progress than any other state toward implementing the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Louisiana is the only state or territory that has completed 7 of 8 ‘major milestones’ for its BEAD application, with the final step being NTIA approval.
“I set a goal of closing Louisiana’s digital divide by 2029, and our successful aggressive pursuit of federal funding for broadband expansion has us on track to meet our goal,” said Governor John Bel Edwards. “Last year we were the first state to receive any Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for broadband, and now we are leading all other states in our application for major broadband funding from this law. Broadband expansion will help our businesses grow, our children learn, and our people access critical healthcare services. I would like to thank Veneeth Iyengar, who leads our Office of Broadband, as well as President Joe Biden, Senator Bill Cassidy, and U.S. Representative Troy Carter for supporting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that made these funds available.”
Louisiana is expected to receive $1.35 billion from the BEAD program, which will help connect 200,000 locations to broadband service. Louisiana’s Granting Underserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunity (GUMBO) program has already successfully funded the expansion of broadband to 70,000 homes, businesses, schools and other locations.
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