State of North Carolina BEAD Five-Year Plan

North Carolina’s five-year action plan for the state’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funding has been approved by both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The  Division of Broadband and Digital Equity made the draft plan available for public comment earlier in summer 2023, refined it based on comments received, and then submitted it to NTIA in late July as part of the process required for North Carolina to access its $1.5 billion federal BEAD funding allocation. The Division of Broadband and Digital Equity’s recent challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map aided in surfacing 115,000 additional North Carolina homes and businesses that do not have access to high-speed internet, adding more new unserved locations to the map through this process than any other state. These additions increased North Carolina’s funding allocation from the BEAD program. The division is also developing a draft state digital equity plan that will be posted for public comment later in 2023 before being submitted to NTIA. The state’s initial BEAD proposal is due to NTIA in December 2023, and the BEAD challenge process to determine eligible locations will take place in 2024. Both the BEAD and digital equity plans will be implemented for the five-year period from 2024 to 2028.