12.15.23 – NOLA –
Louisiana will be the first state to receive its full allocation from the Biden administration to expand high speed and affordable broadband service to all residents, federal and state officials announced Friday.
The money will go for connecting some 200,000 locations, mostly rural, that don’t have good Internet service today.
The connections mean that “Mama doesn’t have to sit outside a restaurant to get Wi-Fi,” said Mitch Landrieu, the Biden administration’s infrastructure czar.
The $1.35 billion that Louisiana is set to receive will begin to connect homes in 2024, said Gov. John Bel Edwards, who was lauded by officials at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for pushing to make Louisiana the first to receive the money from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending programs.
With Edwards leaving office next month, Gov.-elect Jeff Landry will have the responsibility to carry out the spending program over the next six years.
Edwards said he is confident that Landry and his team will do so.