Broadband

Welcome to Napa County's broadband resource and planning page. Napa County currently has a team dedicated to broadband access for Napa County. Additional information will be released later this fall when the broadband strategic plan draft is completed. The next step will be to seek plan approval and adoption. 

Background

During the fall of 2022, Napa County received a Local Area Technical Assistance (LATA) grant in the amount of $500,000. The funds will be used to design projects undertaken to create “shovel ready” projects in the designated priority areas (select Napa County Unserved/Underserved Broadband Areas on the legend to view Napa County’s 12 priority areas). An RFP was released June 8th, 2023, to select a company or companies to develop these projects. It should be noted that the RFP did not include funding to complete the projects, only to design them.

Summer of 2022: Rural Counties Representatives of California (RCRC) was awarded funding to contract for strategic plan development for participant member counties. Napa County had previously gone to the Board for formal approval to enter into an agreement with RCRC to provide this service. After the award, RCRC issued an RFP & a company was selected in the spring of 2023: Tilson. That strategic plan is scheduled to be in draft form and submitted for Board acceptance in the fall of 2023.

During spring 2023 county representatives from Marin, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma were invited to attend a workshop series designed to share information and gather input on California’s broadband investments, including for the BEAD plan aimed at securing and leveraging federal funds. Supervisor Cottrell was in attendance. 

In addition, the County issued an RFP for project design/development. This anticipates the release of the Federal Funding Account application window. Having known partner/developers will help apply for, and hopefully receive, significant seed money (up to $10M in our county) for vendors to begin broadband projects in our previously identified priority areas.

In 2022, the Napa County Board of Supervisors approved a permanent Broadband Project Manager position to oversee grants and other funding opportunities and to coordinate with municipalities, broadband providers and other stakeholders to ensure equitable, resilient high speed internet access for all Napa County Residents. Interested parties may apply for the position of Broadband Project Manager here.

What is the State of California doing?

  • The State of California selected CENIC to develop middle mile infrastructure. This 10,000-mile project is underway, though no Napa County projects are under construction. 
  • The California State Digital Equity plan created a survey - they’re requesting individuals and agencies complete to help determine the state’s plan to utilize billions of dollars in Federal funding for broadband deployment and adoption. 

Funding Opportunities