California Proposes $91M Last Mile Broadband Awards

August 14, 2024 – The California Public Utilities Commission issued $91 million in the fifth round of recommended last mile broadband project awards for public comment on Thursday.

The money comes from the $2 billion last mile Federal Funding Account Grant Program which seeks to expand internet access for underserved and unserved communities in California through a $6 billion state appropriation to broadband infrastructure.

Recommended grant awards sum to $91 million for 10 last mile projects in 5 counties. The projects would benefit an estimated 32,000 residents, including those on Tribal land. 

With the announcement, California has awarded a total of $105.3 million for 14 projects benefiting approximately 196,800 residents. All 14 awards are to public entity applicants and 9 benefit disadvantaged and low-income communities.

Recommend awards out for public comment total $329.5 million over 32 projects in 16 counties. These would benefit an estimated 448,000 Californians. Of these, 14 are public entity applicants. 

The total amount awarded and recommended is $434.8 million over 46 projects. Draft resolutions with award recommendations will be released for public comment every two to three weeks through the rest of the year, said California. Recommendations are considered and voted on at CPUC meetings.