Expansion Goals
Upon achieving our initial objectives, our community lead partners have expressed a collective interest in broadening the scope of our broadband deployment efforts. As of now, all participating partners have committed to extending their reach into additional areas through the end of 2024.
Our formal proposal for the expansion goals of this project is outlined as follows:
Deployment to HRSA Designated Rural Geographies: Our primary goal is to extend broadband access to an additional 250 sites located in areas designated as rural by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). You can refer to the specific rural designations at https://data.hrsa.gov/Content/Documents/tools/rural-health/forhpeligibleareas.pdf.
Equitable Deployment in Non-Target Study Counties: To ensure fairness and equitable deployment of study resources in the expanded geographies, we are limiting the deployment to no more than 50 networks per non-target study county. However, we understand that there may be exceptional circumstances, and as such, requests for exceptions will be reviewed.
Pre-Approved Exceptions: We have also identified a set of pre-approved exceptions that will be made to the 50 network per county maximums. This will include deployments aimed at measuring broadband access for specific communities in a way related to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, as well as other formal government initiatives focused on equitable access to new broadband technologies.
Additional Exceptions will be reviewed by both the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Exactly Labs and granted when there is a justification for the expansion which furthers the equitable goals of the project as a whole.
Our expanded goals are driven by a commitment to bridge the digital divide in rural areas, ensuring that all communities can benefit from broadband connectivity. These objectives will guide our efforts as we continue to work towards providing essential broadband services to underserved regions.
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