Universal Service Fund High Cost obligations 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 Unique recipients are unpublished. 32 is not a count of towers.

Montana geography on the High Cost tag

MT is the place-of-performance code. Awards billed to Helena, Billings, Missoula, or other in-state sites can share the tag. Awards coded to Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, or South Dakota stay outside $955,549,601.16 even when a study area crosses those borders. The code does not convert $955.5 million into a loop map.

Montana federal spending is the all-program parent. 32.002 is one row on Montana programs. $955.5 million is not the state’s complete federal footprint. Open Universal Service Fund - High Cost in Montana for the filtered table, CFDA 32.002 for 32.002 without a Montana filter, and All spending ties for other pairs. Do not add those parents into $955,549,601.16.

Reading 32 awards under $955.5 million

$955,549,601.16 ÷ 32 is about $29.86 million per award. That average is a carrier-support scale, not a typical residential bill. It is not a median. Net obligations can include downward modifications; the total shown is the aggregate in the facts. Treat 32 as a record count, not as 32 finished last-mile projects.

USAspending obligations can be positive new awards or net of downward modifications; $955,549,601.16 is the net total supplied in the facts. Without a transaction register, you cannot see how many of the 32 rows are continuations, renewals, or corrections. Later ingests can restate $955,549,601.16 without changing the join key of 32.002 and MT.

What the High Cost–Montana pair does not prove

A large 32.002 total tagged to Montana does not measure whether unserved locations fell, and it does not equal miles built. FEC donations do not fund this USAspending cell. Correlation is not causation. The headline remains $955,549,601.16 on 32 awards for Universal Service Fund High Cost in Montana.

Keep both sides of the join: Universal Service Fund - High Cost and Montana, obligations only. Do not annualize $955,549,601.16 without a year field—this packet publishes none. Do not treat 32 as a carrier census. Quote USAspending.gov and the overlay path rather than a broadband story.

Using the High Cost–Montana overlay

The overlay target is the Montana × CFDA 32.002 table. Open Universal Service Fund - High Cost in Montana when you want the same $955,549,601.16 / 32-award cell in the site’s data chrome. CFDA 32.002 drops the Montana filter. Montana federal spending drops the CFDA filter. Montana programs lists other catalogs beside 32.002. All spending ties indexes other pairs.

This page exists because two tables meet: a CFDA program and a place-of-performance state. It does not exist to argue that Montana won or lost federal money, that donations paid for the awards, or that obligations equal cash. The pair is 32.002 plus MT. Obligations of $955,549,601.16 are not outlays.

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.