Broadband.money partners with Nokia to enable speedy broadband grant applications

Providers and local communities looking to apply for federal and state broadband funding will soon have a way to quickly collaborate and to estimate their network costs, thanks to a new partnership between Broadband.money and Nokia. 

The two companies unveiled the partnership on Wednesday (and we're very excited about it, since Nokia has helped to unleash world-class broadband all over world.) The goal is to help local broadband providers to connect unserved and underserved communities in a cost-efficient way, and to put them on equal footing with more well-funded competitors.

Broadband.money helps providers and communities visualize the scope of projects more easily with its platform, collaborate on grant applications and discover match funding. Nokia will provide Broadband.money users with access to tutorials, blueprint network designs and tools to help work out the equipment they will need, further simplifying the grant application process. The company is one of the first of other partners Broadband.money expects to work with to make the broadband grant application process as easy as possible. 

The platform enables providers and local communities to seamlessly coordinate online to develop evidence-based broadband grant proposals – all without the time-wasting burden of paper and unwieldy PDF files.

Federal and state governments in the U.S. are committing billions to connect every resident to the internet at an affordable price. That's why Ready and Broadband.money are offering Turnkey ACP. Broadband.money and Nokia are committed to helping everyone to reach those goals quickly, efficiently, and transparently.  

Successful grant applications for funding programs like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment, Middle Mile, Tribal, and Digital Equity programs require comprehensive data analysis. Broadband grant applicants need to present detailed information on proposed service areas, from socio-economic makeup to existing broadband connectivity available to residents, information on community anchor institutions and businesses, and physical information such as flooding risks and existing network assets.

Broadband.money aids this process by providing geospatial insights, predictive analytics, business intelligence, broadband grant templates and empirical data in a collaborative, and easy-to-use interface. Grant applicants use the platform’s visualization, presentation and management tools to source data for custom-drawn areas, develop projects where they want to provide service, then manage ongoing reporting and compliance obligations throughout the full grant lifecycle.

To complete their business cases, grant funding applicants also require specific details of the type of equipment that will be used and how much it will cost to build the planned network. Through this partnership, service providers and communities will now have access to blueprint network designs and equipment planning tools from Nokia to help them build their business case, hugely simplifying the grant application process.

Nokia's network solutions connect about 90 percent of the US population, and its fixed networks power more than 50 percent of the country's fixed telecommunications lines. It's one of the world's most venerable technology companies. So yeah, you can kind of say the company knows how to estimate the cost of networks. 

“America’s making its largest ever investment in broadband," said Jase Wilson, Ready.net's co-founder and CEO. "Every dollar must go to efficient, built-to-last local networks in order to deliver on NTIA (the National Telecommunications and Information Administration)'s vision for high-performance, affordable access for all. As the software and data platform for local providers, we’re honored to partner with Nokia – the worldwide leader in carrier-grade fiber networks.”

For an easy-to-understand guide on how Broadband.money works, check out our “How it Works” page.

For a comprehensive and clear guide on U.S. broadband funding, check out Nokia's guide: US Broadband Infrastructure Funding Explained.