How Louisiana solved the BEAD Rubik’s Cube

On November 18, 2024, Louisiana’s Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity (also known as ConnectLA) posted its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Final Proposal for public comment, which was an historic achievement. Not only did Louisiana finish months ahead of other states, but it appears to have achieved the BEAD program’s objective of getting on a track for universal broadband coverage—and overwhelmingly by means of projects that will use best-in-class, end-to-end fiber technology—for hundreds of millions of dollars less in subsidy costs than was budgeted. As a result, a lot of digitally left-behind Louisianians are about to find themselves on the cutting edge of connectivity. How did they do it? Louisiana’s industry-friendly program allowed applicants to bundle small “sub-project areas” (SPAs) into custom project areas, while also encouraging them to identify some SPAs as “separable,” giving ConnectLA the flexibility it needed to skillfully fit the puzzle together. In short, Louisiana’s command of deconfliction was key to its success.