Tennessee Officials Announce $162.7M in Broadband Funding

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee recently announced the state will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants to connect all residents to high-speed internet by 2028. According to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD), the investment will provide broadband access and digital opportunity programs to more than 236,000 Tennesseans across 92 counties.

“More than $715 million has been invested to expand broadband under Governor Lee’s administration, and we are excited to announce additional funding that will ensure Tennesseans have access to and benefit from high-speed internet, which opens the door to high-quality job training,” said TNECD Commissioner Stuart McWhorter. The investment has connected over 689,000 residents across 275,000 residential and business locations.  

The total $162.7 million investment is divided into two buckets:

1). Last Mile and Middle Mile Infrastructure programs, $97.2 million, will be awarded to 27 companies in total.

• The state awarded grants to nine companies in the Last Mile category and 18 in the Middle Mile category. 

2). Digital opportunity programs, $65.5 million, will be distributed to 135 entities, including:

• Digital Skills, Employment and Workforce Development grants, totaling $27.9 million, will be distributed to 47 organizations to provide training and education programs to advance digital skills and workforce development.
• Connected Community Facilities grants, totaling $26.5 million, will be distributed among 19 local governments to construct and renovate spaces offering services for digital advancement in workforce, healthcare, and education.
• Broadband Ready Communities grants, totaling $6 million, will be distributed among 64 local governments and support community-based digital skills training, public WiFi projects, distribution of free or low-cost devices, and marketing for low-cost internet plans.

Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Broadband Workforce grants, totaling $4.9 million, will be distributed among five TCATs that offer a Telecommunications Electronics Technician diploma. 

Awardees of each program will invest approximately $48 million in matching funds with a project completion date of no later than December 31, 2026.