AT&T Expects to See BEAD Projects Awarded This Year, Shares Gigapower Vision

AT&T expects to see Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding flow from the federal government to the states and expects the “more aggressive” states to award some of that funding to broadband projects before the end of 2023, said AT&T CEO John Stankey. Citing the 80/20 rule, Stankey said, “The bigger states that are going to have the bulk of the funding are pretty zoned in on this and are moving pretty aggressively to get the process underway." Smaller states, he said, may “take a little bit longer to get their act together” and may be waiting to see what the more aggressive states do. He cautioned that we “won’t see substantial shovels in the ground or customers served this year, but I do think that you’re going to see projects and monies awarded before we exit this year.”