Broadband Experts Praise States' BEAD Efforts Despite Delays, Urge NTIA to Move Quickly
Broadband experts applauded state officials for moving quickly to submit new BEAD proposals to NTIA following the agency's June 6 policy restructuring notice for the program (see 2507290070), but they warned that the delays are only furthering the digital divide.
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During a Broadband Breakfast webinar Tuesday, panelists praised states like Louisiana and Virginia for their proposals and encouraged state and local officials to put political pressure on NTIA to move quickly on reviewing the submissions. Doing so "will go a long way toward making sure that at least the good proposals get approved," said Gigi Sohn, a senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society senior fellow and executive director of the American Association of Public Broadband.
"There was a lack of urgency" under the Biden administration to get BEAD funding out the door, with more focus on "all of the minor, little details that really kind of bogged down the program," said Lori Adams, Nokia's vice president of broadband policy and funding strategy. "The perfect was the enemy of the good."
However, Carol Mattey of Mattey Consulting said, the Biden administration "didn't have the ability to short-circuit" certain parts of the program. She noted that money couldn't get allocated until the FCC finished the first version of its broadband map with the broadband serviceable location fabric.
"We should not be in this position right now," Sohn said. Panelists said most states had a productive "Benefit of the Bargain" round, but it remains to be seen how NTIA will respond to states' final proposals under the new rules.
Adams noted that unlicensed fixed wireless became the "forefront of the new BEAD reset rules." There's still the question of what will happen to the underlying spectrum used by most unlicensed providers, given the FCC's renewed spectrum authority, she said (see 2507070045).
Sohn added that "a lot of things at the FCC these days are being done based on politics, based on personal relationships," so "it's possible the commission would auction off the spectrum."
When it comes to the type of technologies used with BEAD funding, Mattey said that "big picture, we all need to be thinking about the long-run cost and the long-run benefits." It's "short-sighted to be looking at the immediate out-of-pocket cost to the government without taking into account additional costs that will be incurred and where things are evolving." It's likely there will be criticism about BEAD, as there was with the Connect America Fund, after certain locations are served with speeds of only 100/20 Mbps, Mattey said.
Sohn raised concerns about "focusing solely on the lowest cost," because "you're just inviting people to underbid," but she applauded state broadband officials for "threading the needle."
States like Louisiana submitted plans to serve about 80% of its locations with fiber, and while Virginia has yet to release its official numbers, both states held meetings with NTIA staff before releasing their proposals. "While it's not 100% approved," Sohn said, "I think it's a pretty good indication that this is sort of where things can head" if NTIA approves those states' plans.
There's "power in having numbers that are similar, if not exactly the same," she said, because it's more difficult for NTIA to tell dozens of states that they have to conduct another round of subgrant applications. "I think that would be a major political problem," Sohn said.
"It's significant that it was two Republican-led states that sort of led the way there," Mattey added. Still, it's unknown whether other states will have "the political desire to follow that trail."
Panelists also noted the impact of the BEAD program on addressing affordability, accessibility and adoption. But the digital divide isn't something that will ever be closed, because the term "will always evolve," and government policies "will never evolve fast enough," Mattey said.
Sohn agreed, adding that "a lot of it depends on how you define the digital divide first." The BEAD program was intended to close that gap, but "it's not going to happen for a variety of reasons." With NTIA also freezing Digital Equity Act grant funding, Sohn noted that it's more challenging to get people online even once they do have some form of access.