ALEXANDRIA – Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) spoke at the Broadband Solutions Summit about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the money it provides to extend high-speed Internet access to towns and villages across Louisiana.
“For Louisiana to reach its potential, everyone in the state needs access to high-speed Internet,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The bipartisan infrastructure bill and other federal and state money will bring access to everyone. Those at this conference will implement this vision.”
This follows today’s announcement that Louisiana will receive nearly $3 million dollars from the IIJA to extend broadband services to the unserved and underserved. This is the first installment of over a billion dollars expected to be allotted to Louisiana over the next five years.
Some communities in Louisiana have already connected to high-speed Internet thanks to pre-existing federal programs. One example is Ville Platte, which will benefit from a grant secured by the Acadiana Planning Commission that will expand broadband service to 22,590 households, 3,723 businesses, 19 schools and 4 hospitals in Evangeline, Acadia and St. Landry Parishes. Cassidy wrote a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in support of the grant, and visited Ville Platte High School in April to celebrate its approval. The IIJA will make it possible for more communities to have similar access to high-speed Internet.
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