Alabama will receive $1.4 billion to expand broadband access to unserved areas. That money comes from more than $40 billion dollars allocated for broadband from the trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure spending plan passed by the Biden administration in 2021.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released the state allocations from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program on Monday. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, which oversees state broadband initiatives, will be the administering agency for the grant funds.

Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly said the county will have to reach out to ADECA to let them know what the needs are in the county. Daly said he feels like they’ve stayed in communication with ADECA about that already.

“We will put in for as much as we can get out of it,” Daly said. “We will do all we can to fight hard to make sure that Limestone County gets everything it needs.”

Daly said broadband access in the county is very important. Especially for the western portion of the county and even in some of the southeastern areas.

“That is one of Limestone County’s biggest needs,” said Daly.

He said even if the money doesn’t come to Limestone County the fact that the state is seeing some of the federal dollars is still good all around.

“Every county has needs, every area has needs. I’m excited that the state is getting money for the situation,” Daly said.

According to the governor’s office states receiving the funds have 180 days to submit plans to the NTIA for use of the funds. ADECA’s Alabama Digital Expansion Division will complete Alabama’s required proposal.

“Its just a slow moving process,” Daly said about how it takes a while for the money to make it to the county level. But, he hopes to see it more quickly this time.

ADECA can submit an initial proposal as early as July 1 and after it is approved by NTIA they can request access to 20 percent of their $1.4 billion in allocated funds, according to the NTIA press release.

The state has awarded more than $88 million in grants to over 100 projects through the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund, though none of that funding has come to Limestone County.

“Alabama is continuing to make great progress in broadband mapping, planning and deployment,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell. “These efforts have put us in good position with the BEAD program to accelerate our work to close the digital divide in Alabama.”

Once all Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund projects are complete, access to broadband service will be available to more than 82,000 Alabama households, businesses and community institutions that currently have no option, the release said.

“My priority is for Alabama to gain full ability to be connected to high-speed internet,” said Governor Ivey. “We have taken several significant strides toward this goal, and today’s announcement provides a tremendous boost in the journey toward full broadband access no matter where you live in Alabama.”

ADECA also has a statewide broadband map and the Alabama Connectivity Plan, which guide the state’s expansion efforts into unserved areas, according to the release. Governor Ivey announced a grant to support broadband “middle-mile” network infrastructure in September 2022 to improve access for last-mile projects. In May, ADECA completed community broadband meetings in each of Alabama’s 67 counties. One was held in Limestone County in April.