The Man Who’ll Oversee Nearly $1.9 Million in BEAD Grants for California Broadband Buildouts

California’s Broadband Office is just what you’d expect:  large, spread out, and a little hard to navigate. It’s not, technically, even one office. In actuality, the California Public Utilities Commission's  Communications Division handles the complicated task of allocating broadband grants to serve those in need. The CPUC’s Communications Division oversees the state’s telecommunications issues in six branches. Within broadband there are approximately 75 employees with a subsection of 25 dedicated to Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD). Offices are in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. As director of the Communications Division, Robert Osborn will oversee California's $1.86 billion in BEAD funding, and he believes in municipal broadband and allowing communities to step up. “We want to get broadband to places where internet service providers won’t go,” said Osborn. “So, we are focusing on expanding the universe of broadband providers."