As states prepare to roll out Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program funding they will have to ensure that providers and local stakeholders are educated on the process of being approved to build with that money. Notably, the program’s letter of credit requirement will still be a must-have for those who want to work through BEAD, despite some pushback on that rule. Illinois Office of Broadband Director Matt Schmit said that his office will have to do outreach so that providers understand the letter of credit is an additional requirement that might not have been there for other grant opportunities. “I think awareness is the key there, with letters of credit,” said Schmit.  Under the existing guidelines, potential grant seekers are required to provide the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) with a letter of credit from a bank as evidence that they have at least 25% of the grant dollar amount in a liquid cash bank account. The real issue is that the letter of credit applies on top of NTIA's 25 percent match requirement for providers – and that could start to add up. For example, a $20 million broadband construction project would require a $5 million match (25 percent of the total project amount) and a $3.75 million letter of credit (25 percent of the $15 million grant amount), so the company or municipality would need to have about $8.75 million in a cash account at the time the grant was awarded. Aristotle President Elizabeth Bowles said that the letter of credit is "a singularly bad way to go about this." Additionally, Bowles added that the letter of credit will disproportionately affect smaller providers, “the very providers that have been going out in rural America and deploying.”

Frontier Communications' move to bridge a funding gap by securitizing fiber assets in the Dallas (TX) area to the tune of $2.1 billion of additional committed capital could prompt other fiber network builders to do the same, reckons an industry analyst. Frontier's stock popped in the wake of the transaction, which centers on about 600,000 fiber locations in the Dallas area. Alongside debt and other financing, Frontier has about $4 billion of liquidity – considered enough for the telecom to polish off its plan to build fiber out to 10 million locations inside its own footprint by 2025. Other fiber network builders are sure to be taking notice, MoffettNathanson analyst Nick Del Deo surmised in a new report (registration required) that explores the implications of Frontier's transaction. "We suspect we'll see more fiber operators move in this direction for financing," Del Deo explained, noting that Frontier's move "should just about take funding risk off the table for the foreseeable future. A key bearish argument [pertaining to Frontier's plan] has thus been largely resolved." Del Deo said his discussions with others in the industry lead him to believe that the level of interest in fiber securitizations "has risen substantially over the past year." He continued: "With the model now having been fairly well established for FTTH [fiber-to-the-home] operators and with borrowing rates up sharply in general, it wouldn't surprise us to see other high yield issuers, both public and private, with mature fiber clusters turn to this option to help manage their funding costs and pursue their builds."

The Good Things Foundation is the UK’s largest digital inclusion charity, seeking to help a million people to get across a tech divide that has deepened during the cost of living crisis. Natasha Bright-Wray, the foundation’s associate director of communications, says that “digitally excluded people are largely forgotten” by a government that boasts of making the UK a digital superpower but is apathetic about those left behind and lacks any meaningful digital inclusion strategy. The effects are conspicuous in the National Health Service, where improved digitalisation can bring greater efficiencies but often leaves those failing to benefit from the services. After all, as Bright-Wray says, one in 20 UK households have no home internet access. And in the case of the elderly, even if they do have access, they frequently have limited ability to use it. In much the same way, the notion that everyone has a bank account and a card or phone with money on it does not withstand a visit to your local supermarket, where it’s noticeable how many people avoid the checkouts that are “card only.” The cashless society is effectively already a reality for most of us, but there remains a minority for whom it represents a continuing headache.

Having worked for Senator Inouye, I experienced firsthand the kindness and collective spirit of Aloha that guides the people who call Hawai’i home. The agency has staff on the ground in Maui assessing the impact on communications services and infrastructure to help local, state, and federal authorities to identify how to best support restoration and emergency response. We have been issuing daily public communications status reports that track the restoration progress, with 17 out of 21 cell sites now restored, the Maui 911 call center now functional, and broadcasters continuing to operate and share important community updates and news. Also, over 10,000 cable and wireline subscribers have had service restored, but more work remains. We will continue to work closely with local, state, and federal partners as families and residents all over the island begin to rebuild and recover from these devastating wildfires.

The agency is supporting communities impacted by the Maui wildfires in a variety of ways,
including:

• Deploying FCC staff to Hawaii to determine the impact to public safety and emergency alerting communications capabilities.
• Enabling wireless providers to deploy temporary microwave stations to the affected area to support wireless service.
• Monitoring the operational status of communications services and infrastructure on Maui and coordinating with government partners, industry, and public safety to support their restoration efforts.
• Enabling the County of Maui to use additional frequencies to support public safety communications.
• Activating a tailored version of its Disaster Information Reporting System to obtain targeted, granular communications status information to aid emergency responder decision-making.
• Posting updates—including reports on the operational status of communications—on a dedicated webpage (www.fcc.gov/HawaiiWildfires), which also includes tips for the public when communicating during an emergency.
• Supporting FEMA and Hawaii disaster operations through spectrum coordination activities.
• Performing remote High Frequency Direction Finding (HFDF) scans to determine and share operational status of AM stations that support public safety communications.
• Assisting carriers with transportation logistics and state processes to expedite communications restoration activities.
• Supporting Urban Search and Rescue Operations by issuing Special Temporary Authority (STA) to operate equipment required by search personnel.
• Engaging federal, state, and local officials on the ground to determine priority needs, provide situational awareness, and share expertise to inform decision-making and the implementation of communications services.
• Extending filing and regulatory deadlines for licensees and applicants in Hawaii so they can focus on the response.
• Engaging with FirstNet to assist with movement and placement of assets to support public safety officials’ field engagements.
• Lastly, the FCC’s Operations Center is available 24/7 to assist public safety and industry with communications needs related the response and restoration on Maui

Dish Network wants to buy 800 MHz licenses from T-Mobile, but it doesn’t have $3.5 billion on hand to finance the purchase, so it’s asking the US government to give it 10 more months to come up with the capital. In a filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Dish argues that turmoil in global capital markets in the past few years have made Dish’s ability to buy the licenses more onerous than anticipated. Dish figures that 10 months is enough time to raise additional capital and obtain financing, in part because its just-announced merger with EchoStar will put it on more solid financial footing. The 800 MHz spectrum transaction is part of a deal hammered out with the government to allow T-Mobile to merge with Sprint. Dish was a party to the transaction because it was set up to be a No. 4 facilities-based carrier to replace Sprint and conditions were set forth to make that happen. One of those was the ability for Dish to acquire the 800 MHz licenses, which would be advantageous to Dish because of its great low-band spectrum coverage propagation characteristics. Recognizing the importance of the spectrum for its greenfield 5G network deployment, Dish already spent more than $1 billion to support 800 MHz on its network. Specifically, Dish said radios compatible with 800 MHz are now on more than 16,000 towers where it has deployed 5G, meaning 800 MHz can be made available to customers immediately upon acquisition of the licenses.