States Grapple With New BEAD Plans Amid NTIA’s Tight Turnaround and Policy Shifts
States are grappling with the limited amount of time available to restructure their BEAD plans and undergo a new round of grant applications under NTIA's revised rules governing the program (see 2506060052). In light of the years of work that states have already spent to comply with the rules set when the program was created, some broadband officials said they plan to continue with business as usual, while others worry that the shift from fiber priority to tech neutrality, along with narrowed community anchor institution eligibility, will hinder their efforts to bridge the digital divide.
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"We’re not considering that work a waste of time," said Christine Hallquist, executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, during a Schools, Health, Libraries & Broadband (SHLB) Coalition webinar last week. "We’re considering it a building block to what we’re going to do." The 90-day deadline for plan resubmissions is "forcing us to make decisions faster," and "we want to be in construction next year” because of Vermont's harsh winters and short construction seasons, she said. Minnesota Office of Broadband Development Executive Director Bree Maki also worried about the tight turnaround but said she hopes the state will move "a little quicker and actually see projects digging in the spring.” On Monday, the Iowa Department of Management's grant support team said, "The changes to the BEAD program are significant," asking eligible entities to "be prepared to act quickly" because the "timeline will be tight."
Some states have made more progress than others, the SHLB webinar speakers said. "We have statutory language and speed goals, which we need to hit in 2026," Maki said. Minnesota's Border-to-Border Broadband infrastructure program is "technology-agnostic, but you have to be able to hit" certain criteria.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Broadband Office is "still navigating the full impact on our stakeholders," a spokesperson emailed us.
While some are concerned that new BEAD rules that include unlicensed fixed wireless (ULFW) service as an eligible provider would be a challenge for states, officials at the webinar said their states aren't worried about having to consider these providers in their new round of grant applications. Hallquist noted that only about 1% of Vermont is served by ULFW, and it will be served by fiber in about 95% of its eligible locations due to the state's terrain. Maki said the same is true for Minnesota, adding that the state is "moving forward with what we have." However, Colorado last week released a public notice opening its BEAD subgrant applications to ULFW providers, saying there "will be no time for curing ULFW evidence submission."
Another potential challenge is new eligibility requirements for community anchor institutions (CAIs) to participate in the program. Greg Guice, Vernonburg Group's chief policy officer, said during the SHLB webinar that NTIA has reversed "the broader definitions some states had adopted" for CAIs, and BEAD now "effectively restricts funding to a statutory list of anchor institutions, primarily schools, libraries and healthcare facilities." NTIA "suspended non-deployment funding for digital equity programs pending further guidance, leaving states to interpret their discretionary authority under existing statutes."
Still, Hallquist said, Vermont isn't deviating much from its CAI plan. "We’re still moving forward with a plan to provide devices and training," even though it's unclear whether there will be funds for such non-deployment activities. "If there are, we will continue," she said, but the state is "going to push the envelope" for areas with large homeless populations, including the Brattleboro bus station, "where a lot of homeless exist. We’re going to keep that in there."