In today’s world, connectivity is essential to our daily lives. For more than 750,000 veterans across the United States, this connectivity is all made possible thanks to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—and unless Congress funds this essential program, those veterans will be cut off by Spring. The program has been instrumental in keeping more than 21 million households connected across the U.S. and 2.5 million veterans are eligible. Unfortunately, funds are expected to run out by April 2024, leaving our communities and veteran populations suddenly without access. Our organization, VetsinTech, provides current and returning veterans with reintegration services and connects them to the national technology ecosystem. We bring together a tech-specific network, resources and programs for our veterans interested in what we call the 3Es—education, entrepreneurship and employment. If 750,000 of them are suddenly disconnected, we can’t reach them and neither can anyone else. It is unthinkable that Congress would allow critical connectivity to our veterans to lapse. Fully funding the ACP is the least we can do and Congress must act now.

[Michael McNerney is a technology entrepreneur and military veteran with a primary focus on cybersecurity. He currently works as the Chief Operations Officer of cybersecurity insurance startup Resilience Previously, he led the threat intelligence business at Arbor Networks.]

Final guidance for North Carolina's Broadband Pole Replacement Program as part of ongoing efforts to connect more North Carolinians to affordable, reliable high-speed internet. This program, established with $100 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, will reimburse high-speed internet service providers for eligible pole replacement costs in connection with qualified projects. Broadband providers deploy infrastructure in remote areas by attaching fiber and other communications assets to utility poles. When utility poles lack space for additional attachments, a pole replacement often is required to accommodate the new infrastructure attachments. Service providers were required to prequalify for the Broadband Pole Replacement Program. The program guidance was posted for public review and comment in August and September of 2023 and will be used by service providers when applying for reimbursement through the program. The program will launch February 1, 2024, and service providers will be able to submit reimbursement requests for eligible expenses dating back to June 1, 2021.

Colorado is a bit of an enigma. It’s home to numerous dense and high population areas including the Denver/Boulder metro area, Fort Collins to the north and Colorado Springs to the south. But, outside those metro areas of the eighth largest state geographically, there have been significant challenges to deploying internet service. Colorado’s challenges include mountains blocking lines of sight, a granite-rich topography that makes underground builds pricey, and sparsely populated desert plains on the West side of the state. Colorado is receiving $826.5 million in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding, a number that the state’s broadband director, Brandy Reitter, speculates was boosted because of the high-cost threshold for deployment in challenging topographies in the fiber-first program. As for how Colorado will define its own ‘high cost per location threshold,’ Reitter says her office is in the process of defining parameters and that Colorado will not be using a ‘one size fits all’ approach because the variety of topographies in the state makes deployment costs vary significantly.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded seven projects across six states a total of $13 million in the second round of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund’s first Notice of Funding Opportunity. This second round of funding will support research and development of new and improved testing methods for open and interoperable networks. The projects focus on advancing security and energy efficiency testing, automating the testing process, and leveraging artificial intelligence to improve network and software testing. The $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund supports the development of open and interoperable wireless networks as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda. Open and interoperable wireless equipment will help drive competition, strengthen global supply chain resilience and lower costs for consumers and network operators.