Three applications received for American Samoa’s broadband initiative

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A Commerce Department five-member panel has “completed its review of three applications received” for the American Samoa Broadband iNEI Initiative, for which $10 million is allocated under the territory’s multimillion dollar share of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), according to the latest performance report, as of July 30, issued by the ASG Oversight Office for ARPA.

Additionally, the panel members “have made final recommendations” on the three applications and the ARPA legal counsel is conducting the “legal review of award documents,” according to the report, which notes that the application submission window closed May 31 and the application review period was June 01 to June 30.

No information was available in the performance report as to the names of the three applicants, when the legal review will be completed, and when awards will be made to the applicants.

A timeline in DOC project documents shows that the grant awards process should be completed by the end of this month.

A summary of the project, cited in the performance report, states that developing and expanding the territory’s bandwidth capacity and connectivity are crucial components to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergency declaration.

“Improving upload and download speed is critical for educational and commercial purposes,” it says. “The outer villages and outer islands are already susceptible to frequent connectivity interruptions, improving internet capabilities through the local service providers will provide the connectivity foundation needed to effectively respond to the mitigation and prevention protocols.

Objective of this ARPA funding is to support projects that will increase internet broadband speeds of up to 100/100 Mbps; to improve broadband services to the most underserved areas in our community; and to make internet rates affordable for the most underserved in our community.

The DOC’s Broadband Office administers this project, with details on the department’s website (https://www.doc.as.gov/cslfrf) under AS Broadband iNEI Initiative.

Samoa News had previously reported on this initiative and since then, there have been public inquiries asking for an update on the project, which would increase broadband speed for upload and download needs, as well as making internet available to all areas of the territory. The hope for many residents is that internet rates will drop in the future under this project.