Plans for Ada County broadband network on hold after state turns down grant application

Visions of a broadband network circling Ada County won’t come true anytime soon after the State of Idaho passed up the Treasure Valley for federal funding projects for needs in rural Idaho.

Originally conceived by Ada County as a $10 million project using some of the county’s federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, the project eventually morphed into a partnership with all of Idaho’s most populous county’s cities to propose a 140-mile broadband network. The proposal would put the network through all six of Ada County’s cities and extend it up north into Gem County, priming it for future expansion into the rural areas of the fringes of the more urban Treasure Valley.

But, for now, this project is on the shelf after the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board opted for other projects in rural Idaho. The proposal for Ada County was one of hundreds of millions of dollars of proposals left on the cutting room floor in the first two rounds of grant awards by the board, which is made up of state legislators and some private industry leaders.

“We are hoping to educate lawmakers and members of the Broadband Advisory Board about the ongoing need and to dispel the myth that urban centers don’t need broadband funds,” City of Boise spokesperson Maria Weeg told BoiseDev. “Boise in particular still struggles with both access (can folks get internet service at all/is there infrastructure in place) and affordability issues (very little market competition here so prices are higher).”

Ada County project to regional pitch

In early 2022, Ada County talked to BoiseDev about its proposal to use some of its local ARPA funds to improve the broadband network.

The idea would have used $10 million to build a nearly 100-mile loop of high-speed broadband fiber through areas north of Star and Eagle, in western Meridian and all the way south of Kuna. This would have brought expensive fiber infrastructure closer to rural areas of the county set for growth, adding more options for customers and opening the way for private companies to serve these areas currently left out of a fast connection. 

Ada County’s IT Director Stephen O’Meara told BoiseDev the county decided not to use its own funds for a broadband project because there were federal dollars flowing into the State of Idaho that could go towards these upgrades. But, the City of Boise, the county and the other Ada County cities were not successful in landing federal grant money last year allocated by the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board.

“At this point, we continue to work with our partners in the Treasure Valley, examining what other options we should consider as both the city and the county believe such an effort would be very beneficial to all citizens in the area,” O’Meara said. “Currently, we are in the planning stages for next steps, but are not pending the results of any grants as of right now.”

The proposal to build a Greater Treasure Valley Network would have cost $40 million total. Ada County and its six cities applied for $20 million in federal grant funds from the American Rescue Plan Act given to the state by the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board. Another $20 million would have come from a match from private wireless companies Involta, Zayo and Fatbeam.

More demand statewide than funds available

The arrival of COVID-19 hastened talks about the importance of broadband infrastructure nationwide, particularly in rural states like Idaho.

Both the state and federal governments kicked in millions over the past few years trying to boost broadband installation to bring faster speeds to rapidly growing areas and hard-to-reach rural communities where private investment isn’t an incentive to bring service. The Idaho Broadband Advisory Board was created in 2021 and is filled with Governor Brad Little’s appointees to outline priorities for grant funds and select which projects get funded, and which don’t.

Idaho has had three pots of money for broadband, one of them funded by the State of Idaho and the other two from the federal government.

The first program was the Idaho Broadband Fund in 2021, which set aside $35 million from state funds to go toward projects with high matches from outside groups known in the broadband world as “middle mile” needs. These projects help build out high speeds from specific destinations to strengthen speeds statewide, but it doesn’t reach into specific subdivisions or far-flung valleys like “last mile” projects. It serves as a backbone that private providers can build off of to improve services in a local network.

When the board opened the application process for projects, proposals flooded in. The state only allocated $35 million, but between $300 and $400 million in requests came in. The broadband advisory board ultimately settled on funding $26 million in improvements to build a 100-mile broadband network between Moscow and Grangeville proposed by the Port of Lewiston and another pitched by Idaho Regional Optical Network and Intermountain Infrastructure Group to build an even longer broadband link between Grangeville and Star.

The next grant the broadband advisory board gave out was $120 million in money specifically from the federal COVID relief package the American Rescue Plan Act. This is the grant Ada County and the other cities applied for and didn’t get. For the $120 million available, more than half a billion in requests came in from around the state. Eighteen projects connecting more than 30,000 homes and businesses were awarded funds.

Ramon Hobdey Sanchez, the Idaho Department of Commerce’s broadband program manager, said the combination of how competitive the grants were and how the state’s strategic plan specifically calls out more remote areas makes an application for Ada County unlikely.

“The board and the stakeholders are so focused on small-town rural Idaho,” he told BoiseDev. “Rural America is what this program is focused on connecting. Obviously (the Treasure Valley) can be a participant, but with that context of how much need there is it would be hard for them to rise to the top I think for what infrastructure already exists.”

Next up, the Idaho Broadband Advisory Board will be putting the finishing touches on the requirements and vision for its third federal grant program, this time funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. The massive allocation gave Idaho $583 million to build more projects in the state.