NTCA Chief: Growing Number of Members Sitting Out BEAD Program

When the $42.5 billion BEAD began, “everybody was really excited,” Bloomfield said. “Here was ... this opportunity to fill in the gaps” in adjacent markets, she said, noting that most NTCA members have already fully deployed broadband in their service territories. But the program structured under the Biden administration was “lumpy” with lots of obligations. People were already thinking, “this feels complicated,” though some decided to participate. The number who jumped in initially was probably lower than what NTIA anticipated, Bloomfield said.

Then came another round, under the Trump administration, in what it called the “Benefit of the Bargain,” Bloomfield said. That required bidders to “sharpen” their pencils and further cut costs, which didn’t necessarily make sense for markets that are expensive to build out, she argued. These markets “are unserved for a reason.” Bloomfield said NTCA members ask, “Do I want to go against a fixed-wireless provider [who can say] whatever they want to say about their service territory,” pay a consultant again and go through the whole process a second time?

Despite this, some members are participating in BEAD, but if NTIA requires states to conduct another "Best and Final Offer" round based on price caps, as is now expected (see 2509120022), that could end their participation, Bloomfield said. Iowa broadband officials, for example, say they’re feeling pressure from NTIA to make additional cuts to BEAD program subgrants in the state's revised final plan (see 2509220023).

Similar to what happened in the rural digital opportunity fund program, Bloomfield warned, some bidders may not be truly committed to the markets they win or won’t have the “financial wherewithal” to do what they say they will.

Venture capitalists need to understand they won’t be able to come into a market, build it out and then sell it off in a few years, Bloomfield said. The people who will benefit from BEAD are “at the end of the tracks” and “the hardest to serve.” The state role in BEAD makes sense, but all the programs are different, she said, adding that personalities and politics play a part in what state broadband offices are deciding, and some also have deep ties to certain providers.

Bloomfield also said she’s had trouble understanding the financial side of bids from providers offering low earth orbit satellite service. Those by Amazon's Kuiper and SpaceX's Starlink are based on “really different” costs to operate, she said. “I’m trying to figure out why, who’s including what and what does that mean.”

Based on NTCA’s latest survey, 84% of the customers served by NTCA members have access to fiber-to-the-home technology, she noted, and their average customer density is seven to the mile. Members have been building “24/7” for the last five or six years, and they’re “well positioned” to “edge out further” into underserved communities.

Bloomfield conceded that fiber probably can't serve all locations, but she said NTCA members understand the real costs of deployment. One advantage of fiber is that it significantly lowers operational costs once it’s deployed, she argued. Satellite broadband makes some sense in certain areas, but it can become congested when too many people are online at the same time, she said. “There are still some physical limitations.”

Better Maps

Bloomfield also said federal broadband maps are “ever evolving” and will “never be perfect.” They have trouble “tracking what is being built, what is being taken off the table,” she said. “We’ve got to continue to evolve these maps." She noted that she continues to see problems, such as a boulder in a field being identified as a location to serve. “There’s still a lot of coordination to be done."

NTCA members appreciate the Trump administration’s focus on cutting environmental reviews and other red tape for deployments, Bloomfield said. Dealing with railroad easements is “a huge deal in these communities … because there are a lot of railroad crossings." Some members have had to delay projects by 18 months because of National Environmental Policy Act and state rights-of-way reviews. “You may have lost two build seasons because you’ve really only got a few months that you can actually build.”

Bloomfield said it was critical that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of the USF contribution factor and the broader program (see 2506270054). “We are now out of the fire, back into the frying pan,” she said. “We know there’s a lot of work to be done.” If the FCC had lost, members would have stopped building, and their rates would have gone up, she said, adding that what happens next is up to Congress.