Universal Service Fund - High Cost in Montana

What the 32.002–Montana join is

CFDA 32.002 is titled UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND - HIGH COST. Crossed with Montana place of performance, obligations sum to $955,549,601.16 on 32 awards. The national High Cost hub includes other states. Montana’s spending hub includes other programs. Only this intersection is reported here. $955,549,601.16 is an obligation aggregate from USAspending.gov, not an outlay and not a count of rural exchanges in Helena or on the Hi-Line.

Thirty-two awards is a many-carrier pattern: High Cost support often posts as separate assistance records to rural telephone companies and similar eligible carriers. The join does not name those carriers, split the Flathead from eastern Montana, or count loops. Packet facts stop at $955,549,601.16, 32 awards, MT, and 32.002. Correlation is not causation.

32.002 is not BEAD

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (CFDA 11.035) is a different catalog. Mixing BEAD into $955,549,601.16 would invent a broader broadband total than this cell contains. Facts available: Montana, CFDA 32.002, $955,549,601.16, 32 awards. FCC map locations and carrier names are not in the facts.

The catalog title names Universal Service Fund - High Cost, not a ranking of unserved locations. Dividing $955,549,601.16 by 32 yields about $29.86 million per award—a rural-carrier scale. Unique recipients are unpublished. 32 is not a count of towers.

Questions

How much High Cost USF funding is obligated in Montana?

USAspending records $955,549,601.16 in CFDA 32.002 obligations with Montana place of performance on 32 awards. That is the pair total, not an outlay and not BEAD. Keep Universal Service Fund - High Cost and Montana together when citing $955,549,601.16.

Is High Cost the same as BEAD in Montana?

No. Universal Service Fund High Cost is CFDA 32.002. BEAD uses CFDA 11.035. Mixing those catalogs would invent a total larger than $955,549,601.16. 32 is a record count, not a person or facility census. The overlay is the live Universal Service Fund - High Cost–Montana table.

Does 32 awards mean 32 telephone companies?

32 is a USAspending award-record count, not a carrier census. The implied mean is about $29.86 million per award. Unique recipients are unpublished. Obligations of $955,549,601.16 are not outlays. The overlay is the live Universal Service Fund - High Cost–Montana table.

Is $955.5 million Montana’s full federal telecom spend?

No. $955,549,601.16 is only the 32.002 × Montana cell. BEAD and other catalogs appear on separate Montana program pages. Nationwide 32.002 is not limited to Montana. Original filings remain on USAspending.gov for this 32.002 × MT pair.