MIDDLE MILE BROADBAND INITIATIVE
Fall 2024 Update: #OaklandUndivided successfully advocated for a transformative infrastructure investment in California’s highest need communities despite a historic State budget deficit. In total, the State will invest nearly $20M in open-access broadband infrastructure investment which will provide robust connectivity to East Oakland and the Flatland communities for decades to come.
PRIORITY #1
Safeguard the $1.5 billion allocation for the Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI) in the Governor’s proposed budget, prioritizing investment in the highest need, least connected communities in California
The middle mile is linked to the backbone of the internet, ensuring whole communities and regions can connect. Without a robust middle mile, last mile connections - those to homes, businesses, schools, libraries, clinics, etc. - range from impossible to impossibly expensive. There are myriad projects across the State already underway making use of this critical resource.
Previously allocated funding has provided for 80% of the MMBI network. By protecting the $1.5 billion investment in the Governor's current proposed budget to fully complete it, the State protects the value of its existing, encumbered MMBI investments as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of other related Broadband for All programs. To delay the completion of the entire network risks depreciating the value of the existing infrastructure and limiting the State’s return on investment. Moreover, the $1.5 billion is a commitment to equity, giving the California Department of Technology the opportunity to prioritize historically marginalized communities and regions in completing the network, as is the legislative intent of the Federal dollars funding the MMBI.
If the MMBI is completed as planned (which requires the $1.5B in the Governor’s proposed budget), California’s MMBI will be a future-proof network supporting connectivity in every part of the State, in all kinds of communities - urban, rural, and tribal - for decades to come. Today, 1 in 5 Californians do not have fast, reliable, and affordable connectivity. The remaining pieces of the MMBI are critical to changing that reality.
NEWS ABOUT MMBI
FIX THE MAPS
Discriminatory state broadband maps have led to broadband infrastructure investment (such as MMBI) in some of the wealthiest areas of our state using taxpayer dollars. It is critical that the state rectifies their maps to reflect on-the-ground truth and ensure that state funding goes to the areas that need it the most – the lowest-income, highest-need regions.
CALL-TO-ACTION:
#OaklandUndivided calls on the California Public Utilities Commission to:
Prioritize the State’s once-in-a-generation broadband infrastructure investment is the communities it’s intended to serve
Uncouple funding decisions from demonstrably inaccurate broadband service maps and make revisions that incorporate publicly available data and community generated sources of truth
By 2027, the State of California will make an $8 billion internet infrastructure investments intended to direct critical resources to communities bearing the brunt of the digital divide. To allocate this once-in-a-generation investment, the California Public Utilities Commission is responsible for generating maps that show which communities are most in need.
Despite race and income being the best predictor of (1) whether you have access to internet, (2) how reliable it is, and (3) how much it costs, the State has generated maps that are demonstrably inaccurate and systematically benefit wealthy, demonstrably served communities while woefully underrepresenting need in the highest poverty, least connected communities this funding is intended to serve.
