ITIF's Kane: Nevada, Others Can Reconsider a Fiber-First BEAD Plan
It's "not too late" for Nevada to change course on its BEAD plan, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation Director-Broadband and Spectrum Policy Joe Kane blogged Thursday. Kane said the state's provisional choices for allocating its funding, which required NTIA approval,…
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"reflect a misunderstanding of the digital divide." The state could deploy high-speed low-earth-orbit satellite service for $600 per location. "Nevada could use savings from a more reasonable deployment plan to provide a similar affordability benefit to its low-income residents" as the FCC's affordable connectivity program, he said. Nevada's Office of Science, Innovation & Technology didn't comment. Kane also urged NTIA to revise its fiber preference in BEAD program rules (see 2412130011). NTIA should stop its "irrational preferencing of fiber deployments and require that states choose the most economical technologies to complete deployment so that leftover funds can address more widespread and serious causes of the digital divide," he said.