Kansas Official Says Capital Projects Fund Better Suited Than BEAD for Some High-Cost Rural Areas

CRYSTAL CITY, Va., October 13, 2022 – The private matching fund requirement of the Capital Projects Fund, which allows states to contribute more to builds, are better suited to serve some high-cost rural communities than those of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, said the director of broadband development at the Kansas Department of Commerce on Thursday.

Since the Treasury Department’s CPF allows a “sliding scale” funding model, Kansas is able to provide public matching funds of up to 95 percent for broadband projects in some of the most expensive, hardest-to-reach communities in the state, Jade Piros de Carvalho told Broadband Breakfast at the AnchorNets conference. Under terms of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s BEAD program — which allocates $42.5 billion for broadband infrastructure — states can provide matching funds of no more than 75 percent of project costs.

“These high cost areas, if we don’t serve them now, they’re never going to be served,” Paros de Carvalho told Broadband Breakfast. “So I hope more states are taking advantages of this sliding-scale opportunity.”

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan Act appropriated $10 billion to the CPF. The fund’s grantees are state, Tribal, and other eligible governments. CPF money may be used for broadband and other digital connectivity projects, as well as some community-facility projects. Providers that receive CPF funds must also participate in the Affordable Connectivity Program, which subsidizes monthly internet bills and device purchases for low-income households.