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This week: Joey Wender, director of the capital projects fund at the US Treasury Department, on the status of $10 billion in federal broadband deployment funds.
This episode features Joey Wender, director of the capital projects fund at the US Treasury Department. In his role, Wender has been responsible for overseeing $10 billion in federal broadband deployment funds, which the Treasury Department has been steadily awarding to states and territories since 2022.
For a bit of background, the $10 billion capital projects fund was established through the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March 2021. That legislation preceded the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in November 2021, which created the much larger $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
We first had Wender on The Divide last year to discuss his department's progress with awarding the first $5 billion in capital projects funding. Now, with nearly all $10 billion awarded, Wender joins the podcast again to discuss the status of that funding, which he calls a "down payment" on closing the digital divide.
We talk more about how far that $10 billion will ultimately go toward solving the country's connectivity problems, as well as how his department is collaborating with partners at the NTIA as they get closer to awarding BEAD funds, why losing the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will have "cascading effects" on all of this – and more.
Here are a few topics we cover in this conversation:
Background on the US Treasury Department's capital projects fund (01:11)
Update on how much of the $10 billion in funding has been awarded (03:32)
What level of involvement Wender's department has in the grant and deployment process after funds are awarded (06:40)
Reflecting on the decision to require funding recipients to deliver 100 Mbit/s symmetrical builds (09:57)
Why losing the ACP will have "cascading effects" on providers and consumers (12:44)
How his department collaborates with the NTIA on broadband funding (16:57)
What Wender has learned about the digital divide through this work (20:20)
How the Biden administration can publicize its broadband deployment successes (21:50)
For a lightly edited transcript, click the caption button on the podcast player.
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