In Funding Year 2024, applicants nationwide requested discounts on more than $1.7 billion of Category One lit fiber services, nearly three times more than all other types of Category One services combined.
For Category Two, switching, routing, and wireless equipment made up almost 70% of the total pre-discount funding requested.
Funding Year 2024 requests were filed by 21,299 unique applicants across the country. Category One applications were filed by 92.8% of applicants, while 49.2% filed Category Two applications.
Overall, Category One demand rose over the prior two years, while Category Two closely matched FY 2023
