Getting connected to high-speed internet means something different to every person.
In Amarillo, Texas, high-speed internet means Vicky Lewis was able to pursue her lifelong dream of obtaining her degree without worrying about an unstable connection dropping her from her online studies. In Oldham County, Kentucky, it means beef producer Steve Greenwell can compare cattle prices from the comfort of his home, ensuring he sells his stock for the best price out there.
Whenever a new connection is made, opportunity comes with it.
Louisiana passed a historic milestone in connecting more Americans to opportunity by announcing the first Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) awards in the country. It’s our honor to be a part of the announcement, as we look forward to connecting more than 20,000 customer locations as part of a public-private project with the state.
It’s the start of a new phase in the BEAD program, with every state having an approved Initial Proposal Volume 2. What’s next is the finalization of BEAD eligible locations across other states, more application windows opening up and eventually more states joining Louisiana in announcing BEAD awards.
The position we are in now to capitalize on BEAD dollars is the result of hard work between state leaders, community organizations and internet providers. It’s work we’ve been engaging in since the pandemic, turning American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars into connections for households and businesses that were without a critical necessity in today’s world. Last summer, I wrote about how much we were able to accomplish with local and state governments empowered by ARP dollars.
In just over two years, we put pen to paper and shovel to ground on AT&T Fiber expansion projects to more than 130,000 customer locations across our footprint – to a growing beach town on the coast of South Carolina, an urban center in Amarillo, Texas, and emerging parishes, counties and cities across Indiana and Louisiana.
In each of those projects, there has been no shortage of experience gained, lessons learned and trust developed – all of which we’ve been able to apply to the next project.
Since I wrote about those efforts, we’ve added even more to the list. Right now, as a result of public-private projects, we’re planning to build AT&T Fiber® to more than 350,000 customer locations across 15 of the 21 states where we provide AT&T Fiber. Each project adds more weight to our momentum and more experience as we get ready to put BEAD dollars to the best use possible.
- In the Bayou state, we’re working together with St. Tammany Parish for a second time, and added the City of Monroe to a double-digit list of places where we are building out broadband networks in Louisiana.
- AT&T Fiber is coming to the doorsteps of households in the towns of Egg Harbor, Sevastopol and Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin as a result of our work with the towns and state.
- In Indiana, we secured more wins as part of the Next Level Connections program, as we look forward to building AT&T Fiber to 4 more counties in the Hoosier state.
As this number continues to grow, we’re also seeing past agreements turn into activated fiber and new connections.
- Vicky and Steve were connected as part of our fiber project completions in Amarillo and Oldham County, respectively.
- In Indiana, we completed building out our network to more than 20,000 customer locations in Vanderburgh County – our very first contract win of the ARP-era back in 2021.
- We also recently turned-on AT&T Fiber in parts of San Antonio, Texas.
Our customers and policymakers are seeing and feeling the impact of our public-private efforts at just the right time.
We aren’t starting from a blank slate. We have a foundation of trust built from our ARP projects. And most importantly we know what we are working towards – to expand internet access so that there are more stories like Vicky’s and Steve’s to tell in communities across the country.
