The Affordability of BEAD: Low-Cost Options in Every State

There is wide range of speculation on how the outcome of the election will change the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to deploy high-speed internet networks to every unserved location in the country. Until we know more, it’s still worth examining how states came to terms with BEAD’s key requirement to promote affordability: the low-cost service option. Each state has taken a slightly different approach to defining what they consider both affordable for their communities and realistic for the providers they need to build and operate these networks. Some telecom pundits like to discount the importance of affordability, telling people to “get over their affordability fixation,” but the evidence is overwhelming that price is a fundamental barrier for low-income households to get online. Affordability is key piece to bridging the digital divide and the BEAD low-cost option is worthy of attention as the first time a federal broadband deployment program has centered affordability for the communities it seeks to connect.