Louisiana Broadband Director Details Route to Nation’s First BEAD Awards

The state of Louisiana anticipates being the first to award funding in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment rural broadband funding program. The state has a timeline to award its entire $1.3 billion BEAD allocation by a target date of November 1. The state began accepting BEAD applications August 19 and providers have only until August 29 to apply for funding in the first round. Project areas are based on hexagons, known as sub-project areas (SPAs), and a single bid can include multiple hexagons. Iyengar expects the broadband office to be “in good shape by the end of September to understand the results” so that the office can hit the November 1 target for announcing awards from both rounds. By using alternative technologies for the highest cost locations, the state hopes to have some funds left over to use for non-deployment initiatives.