CNMI expanding broadband infrastructure

The CNMI’s digital landscape is expanding. This week, the CNMI government inked an agreement with the Northern Marianas College, NMTech, island Training Solutions, and the Department of Labor to launch the Governor’s Broadband Bootcamp. It’s a workforce development program to train local U.S. workers in fiber optic technology through 2025.

“It's a really quick boot camp to try and train up to 300 individuals,” said Glen Hunter, Director of the CNMI Broadband Policy & Development Office. 

It comes amid the CNMI’s broadband expansion under the CNMI Broadband Policy and Development Office. The CNMI is now in the implementation phase of the $80 million Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD Program.

“We were able to secure, close to a little more than $80 million for the bead program for the CNMI. That funding was, is prioritized towards infrastructure development to connect every household -- that universal coverage we're talking about. In the CNMI's case, pretty much every broadband serviceable location will get that funding to get that end to end fiber connection. That's our hope and so within the next four years,” said Hunter. 

And there’s more.

“Before the end of the year, we hope to launch what's called the sub grant phase of this project. And that'll open up a sub grant portal where we will then we've broken the community up into 21 project areas. So we'll put out an opportunity for qualified sub grantees to bid on those 21 areas and put forth what amount of money would be needed from the BEAD funding to run underground end to end fiber connections to each of those households, those broadband service level locations within that project area,” he added. 

He hopes to bridge the digital divide.

“At this stage in life and the way the world is right now, access to the internet should be it really should be a right, not just a privilege for a select few,” he said.