SHLB Submits BEAD Recommendations to State Broadband Leaders

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition issued a set of crucial recommendations to State and U.S. Territory Broadband Leaders as they shape their BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) Five-Year Action Plans and Initial and Final Proposals. “Community anchor institutions play a crucial role in ensuring open, affordable, high-performance broadband for everyone in the US,” said Adrianne Furniss, Executive Director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. “These SHLB Coalition recommendations offer a roadmap to speeding network deployment, ensuring service affordability, accelerating broadband adoption, and modeling applications that improve lives through education, healthcare, and civic engagement.”

1. Develop a consistent but flexible definition of “community anchor institution” that includes traditional and non-traditional anchors based on your state’s individual needs.
2. Map and assess the needs of your community anchor institutions.
3. Include anchor institutions in the planning process when developing strategic deployment and adoption projects.
4. Connect anchor institutions that lack broadband to gigabit (or faster) service.
5. Consider funding anchor-enabled networks to provide connectivity to a community.
6. Incentivize open-access networks where possible.
7. Provide project opportunities for non-traditional broadband providers.
8. Assess unit-level connectivity for multi-tenant dwelling units (MDUs).
9. Streamline access to existing infrastructure like poles and resolve disputes expeditiously.
10. Support alternatives to the letter of credit.
11. Use anchor institutions to promote digital opportunity and adoption efforts.
12. Ensure planning (and broadband plan) transparency.