By Alexis Waiss – Cronkite NewsWASHINGTON – The Treasury released $99.4 million in broadband funding to Arizona Tuesday, money that officials said could bring broadband internet service to an estimated 127,807 households and businesses around the state.
“ not just that you need it at libraries, not just in schools, not just in each classroom, not just in some homes, but strong, affordable broadband enough for every family to be able to work from home and do school from home,” Sperling said. Arizona was one of three states to get funding Tuesday with Tennessee, which received $185 million to extend service to 50,000 households, and Wyoming, which got $70.5 million to provide broadband to 11,700 customers. Since the program started last summer, 33 states have received all or part of their expected allocation from the program.
Any service provider that gets money from the Capital Projects Fund has to agree to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides a discount of up to $30 a month for broadband service to eligible households and $75 per month to households on tribal lands.
Sperling said the project will help ensure that high-speed internet remains a “basic measure that every American family had to have to have equal educational and economic opportunity.”