States Want Speed and Flexibility in BEAD Guidance
NASHVILLE -- State broadband officers said Wednesday that the best thing the Commerce Department and NTIA can do for them in the forthcoming BEAD guidance is allow states to be fast and flexible in how they get broadband infrastructure deployed. At the Fiber Broadband Association's annual trade show and conference, state officials expressed concerns that delays could chill ISPs' interest.
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Commerce announced "forthcoming programmatic improvements" to BEAD in April (see 2504220073). Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday that NTIA would issue a new notice of funding opportunity for BEAD "shortly" (see 2506040060)
New Commerce guidance can't come quickly enough, said Joseph Le, Kansas' interim director of broadband development. Numerous states are trying to move quickly to get funding to subgrantees, and any BEAD changes should let states maintain that speed, he said. "Hardline restrictions" also would be a concern, as there are big differences among states, Le added.
States "may not all be in love with our plan, but we like our plan" and hope to stick with it, said Minnesota Office of Broadband Development Executive Director Bree Maki. Glen Howie, Arkansas' broadband director, said the state has planned out multiple BEAD guidance scenarios so it has a response ready regardless of what happens. Optimally, the administration will give "as much flexibility as possible," he said. "Trust the states.”
North Carolina hasn’t launched its BEAD subgrantee selection process and is keenly interested in how much time the guidance will give states to pivot their plans, said Angie Bailey, director of its state Department of Information Technology’s Broadband Infrastructure Office. Unknown is whether the direction will be met by legal challenges or lobbying from states, or whether states “dig in and implement,” she said.
Howie said the BEAD bids that Arkansas received cover 99% of eligible locations, averaging about $7,000 and 5.3 bids per location. The state took pains to make BEAD bidding as market-driven as possible, such as giving bidders a lot of flexibility in designing the footprints of their proposed projects and deciding what technologies to use. Howie said 89% of locations use fiber; the rest use a mix of technologies, including fixed wireless and satellite.
Bailey said North Carolina is planning beyond BEAD and handling locations that fell through the cracks. The state also has new middle-mile needs because of damage from 2024’s Hurricane Helene, she said: A state’s broadband infrastructure needs aren’t static but “a shifting space.”
The Fiber Connect event also featured mayors discussing infrastructure projects. In addition to a pair of private fiber operators in Danbury, Connecticut, the city is also laying fiber, said Mayor Roberto Alves. While the fiber is going to traffic signals, “we know that opens up so much more.”
West Des Moines Mayor Russ Trimble said the city completed its open-access fiber conduit project -- with conduit running past all 42,000 addresses there -- with the idea that it wouldn't be an ISP, competing with private-sector providers. He said there was significant opposition from an incumbent provider, including now-settled litigation. Work started in 2020, and the pandemic -- with related worker shortages and supply-chain issues -- increased the budget from an estimated $60 million to a final price tag of $72 million. Trimble said that today, there are two city-wide providers and others that use a portion of the conduit. The incumbent provider also is using the conduit in various locations, he added.
Fiber Connect 2025 Notebook
Harsha Mudaliar, an aide to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, said Gomez’s policy priorities include ensuring access to affordable broadband. With the affordable connectivity program lapsed, Gomez is hopeful that the FCC and Congress will move to fill that gap, Mudaliar said. Any USF reform must include an affordability program component, she added, though she criticized the idea of wrapping USF into appropriations.
Gomez considers it “a big responsibility" to become the sole Democrat on the commission, with Geoffrey Starks leaving office (see 2506040045), Mudaliar said. Gomez’s office is “very aware” that the White House might seek to remove her the way it fired Democratic commissioners at other independent agencies.
Pointing to broadband affordability, Fiber Broadband Association Chair Ariane Schaffer, head of public policy at Google Fiber, said the federal government should take a role in tackling adoption issues.