California's Current Efforts to Fund Broadband Infrastructure Deployment: An Overview

California has been funding last-mile broadband infrastructure deployment across the state for nearly two decades. However, the influx of federal money in the past five years has resulted in new grant programs being administrated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Coupled with California's endeavor to build a statewide middle-mile network, broadband infrastructure is being funded and deployed on a historic scale. Below is a high-level overview of the current state of these efforts.

California Advanced Services Fund (CASF)—Infrastructure Grant Account (IGA) Program

In November 2022, the CPUC issued Decision 22-11-023, adopting revised rules for the CASF IGA program. The IGA program has funded broadband deployment projects in California for nearly 20 years. Although the amount of money in the IGA has varied over the years, in June 2025, the CPUC allocated another $60 million to the IGA fund and indicated that it will continue to approve project applications using all available funds, including those made available beyond 2026.

The previous application round, which occurred in June 2023, saw 74 applications submitted seeking a total of approximately $527 million in funds. Between November 2023 and December 2024, the CPUC awarded nearly $90 million to fund 10 projects. In July 2025, the CPUC published an updated Broadband Availability map identifying eligible locations for funding. Locations with broadband download/upload speeds less than 10/1 Mbps are considered "priority" and locations with speeds less than 25/3 Mbps are also eligible, while locations exceeding these speeds are considered "served" and therefore ineligible for funding.

The most recent application round ended on October 31, 2025, and challenges were accepted through December 5, 2025. CPUC staff is reviewing these applications and anticipates proposing awards between March and May 2026.

Federal Funding Account (FFA) Program

In April 2022, the CPUC issued Decision 22-04-055, adopting rules for the FFA program created by Senate Bill 156. The FFA is a grant program intended to fund primarily last-mile broadband infrastructure in areas "with an identified need" for additional investment, with a focus on areas "without access to Internet service at sufficient and reliable speeds", subject to a minimum per county allocation set by the CPUC. The first application round occurred in the fall of 2023; 484 applications were submitted seeking over $4.6 billion in funds for projects in every county in the state. Between June 2024 and February 2025, the CPUC awarded approximately $1.1 billion to fund 113 broadband projects covering 52 counties.

The CPUC opened a second application round in May 2025 for the six counties where projects were not selected; 72 applications were submitted seeking nearly $600 million in funds for projects in these counties. The CPUC awarded approximately $117 million to fund nine broadband projects. With these awards, a total of 122 projects have been funded, including at least one project in each county in California.

This program was originally funded with $2 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act and benefits from over $500 million from the Capital Projects Fund. However, California has infused state money into the program and plans to continue doing so, with $550 million set to be allocated to the FFA program in the 2027-2028 state budget. Details about future funding rounds have not yet been released.

Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program

In 2024, the National Telecommunications Information Agency (NTIA) approved California's Initial Proposals (Volume 1 and Volume 2), securing approximately $1.86 billion in last-mile funding for the state. In January 2025, NTIA also approved California's BEAD Map identifying all BEAD eligible Broadband Serviceable Locations. As such, when NTIA issued its BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice in June 2025, the subgrantee selection process was well underway in California. In fact, the CPUC already was poised to begin reviewing applications that potential subgrantees had submitted in May. The CPUC undertook additional procedural steps to revise its BEAD program to comply with the NTIA's BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice. The CPUC voted to approve California's Final BEAD Plan on December 18, 2025, and submitted it to NTIA for review by the December 19, 2025, deadline. California is currently awaiting NTIA's approval of its Final BEAD Plan. (Rulemaking 23-02-016)

California's Middle-Mile Broadband Network (MMBN)

In 2021, California began its effort to construct an open access, state-wide, middle-mile broadband network using an initial $3.25 billion in funds allocated by SB 156. The CPUC, the California Department of Technology (CDT) Office of Broadband and Digital Literacy, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and GoldenStateNet (GSN)—the third-party administrator—each have roles in this initiative. Specifically, the CPUC coordinates last-mile grant programs with the middle-mile network; the CDT oversees the acquisition and management of contracts for construction, development, maintenance, and operation of the network (which GSN manages); and Caltrans manages construction along state highways and rights-of-way. These entities provide quarterly progress reports to both the California Broadband Council and the Middle-Mile Advisory Committee.

The 8,185-mile MMBN is being developed through a mix of Caltrans-led builds, joint builds with 10 public and private partners, as well as leases and purchases from seven public and private infrastructure owners. As of January 2026, 5,141 miles of the network were in the installation phase of the development plan. Of these, 3,389 miles of construction were completed. To generate revenue to fund the operation of the MMBN, presale work began in 2025 to secure connection contracts and at least 59 FFA grantees plan to connect to the MMBN. Segments of the MMBN will be put into use as they are completed. Current plans are for the Bishop Paiute Tribe to be the first community connected by March of 2026. While the entire network was anticipated to be operational by December 2026, CDT has recently indicated that permitting challenges may cause potential project delays beyond that date.

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This advisory is intended to serve as a high-level overview of the most significant developments related to broadband grant programs and infrastructure deployments in California. Please contact DWT for more detailed information.