WA Secretary of State Wikis

Broadband Stimulus Funding

Below is a listing of libraries participating, or interested in participating, in Broadband Infrastructure projects. These projects may be funded either under the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), a program of the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Utilities Service, or the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), a program of the United States Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Broadband Initiatives Program grants facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas.

BTOP Broadband Infrastructure grants fund projects that deliver broadband service through Last Mile or Middle Mile facilities to unserved and underserved areas.

As stated within the grant guidelines, these grants are broadly crafted and include, among other things, expenses used to fund the construction or improvement of all facilities required to provide broadband service. Eligible expenses falling within this category may include, but are not limited to:
  • network and access equipment (switching, routing, or transport);
  • outside plant (cables, conduits, ducts, poles, tower, or repeaters);
  • buildings and land (new construction, improvements, renovations, or lease);
  • customer premise equipment (modems, routers, etc.);
  • billing and operational support systems (IT systems or software);
  • operating equipment (vehicles, office equipment, etc.);
  • professional services (engineering design, project management, or consulting);
  • testing (network elements, IT system elements, user devices, test generators, lab furnishings, servers/computers); and
  • site preparation.

BIP-BTOP - Broadband Infrastructure