ACA Connects Urges NTIA to Promote Competition with Market-Driven Standards in BEAD

On May 30, ACA Connects President and CEO Grant Spellmeyer wrote to Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson to urge the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to make sure small and medium-sized wireline broadband providers have a fair opportunity to compete in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD). “The small and medium-sized wireline broadband providers represented by ACA Connects are eager to participate in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD), but they will be deterred if they must comply with overly restrictive or burdensome requirements to offer and administer the 'low-cost service option.' Fewer participants in BEAD will mean less competition for funds, less fiber deployment, and a heightened risk of stranding Americans on the wrong side of the digital divide. We urge the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to keep these concerns front-and-center as it reviews and approves State and Territory plans for low-cost service options."