NTCA & ACA Connects Urge NTIA to Prioritize Most Reliable High-Speed Internet Technologies in BEAD

NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association and ACA Connects–America’s Communications Association submitted comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) regarding the agency’s proposed guidance on the use of alternative broadband technologies in deployment projects funded by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.  NTCA and ACA Connects urged NTIA, in enabling the use of alternative technologies, to:

• Prioritize fiber to as many BEAD locations as possible before turning to other reliable broadband technologies and then finally, as a last resort, looking to the use of alternative (i.e., non-reliable) technologies like unlicensed spectrum and low-earth orbiting (LEO) satellite systems;
• In choosing alternative technologies, select projects that deploy fiber closest to unserved locations before considering alternative technologies that do not use fiber; and
• Issue a follow-on notice seeking further comment on how paying for service on LEO satellite systems would fit within the IIJA’s mandate to promote “infrastructure investment” and how theoretically “reserving capacity” on such systems might work given the shared nature of that capacity across multiple jurisdictions (and even countries). If NTIA were to move forward without seeking further comment, the associations stated the agency should adopt their alternative proposal to use BEAD funds only to procure LEO terminal equipment and should enter into an agreement that allows consumers at locations where a LEO provider wins support to obtain service at reasonable prices over a 10-year term.