CostQuest ‘gerrymanders for good’ to help states create BEAD biddable locations

If you know CostQuest at all you probably think of it as the company that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hired to help the FCC clean up and refine its national broadband map. But the company is also working with state broadband offices on their Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programs. And it sometimes helps them devise biddable areas that look a bit like a gerrymandered political district. To give a little background, CostQuest works with the FCC on its national broadband map. What many people may not know is that in addition to all its mapping work, CostQuest also provides the National Telecommunications and Information Administration with estimates on how much it will cost to bring broadband to each individual unserved location. CostQuest has contracts with state broadband offices where it helps them to determine the best way to create biddable areas based on the price of deployment to each location.