Is BEAD a 10-Year Program?

A recent Politico article quoted a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) spokesperson as saying that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program was intended to be completed on a 10-year cycle. This is the first time I’ve heard that BEAD was intended to be a 10-year plan. States will be making BEAD awards starting sometime in 2025. A state can’t make a grant award until they find an internet service provider to serve every unserved and underserved location and also gotten NTIA approval for the full pile of awards. I don’t expect more than perhaps a few token customers to be connected to a BEAD-constructed network in 2025.