Program review: Where does BEAD stand three years in?

On November 15, 2021, U.S. Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which created the Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (BEAD) program. BEAD’s $42.45 billion budget makes it the largest federal broadband deployment program to date. The legislation established an ambitious goal of deploying universal access to broadband service at speeds (bandwidths) of at least 100 Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload (100/20), with less than 100 milliseconds of latency—or in catchphrase form, “internet for all.” Almost three years later, while no broadband infrastructure has yet been built, much in terms of thoughtful planning has been accomplished. The deliberate rollout has been a function of:

• the statutory mandate to execute the program through state broadband offices, but under the supervision of a federal agency, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which necessitates a lot of coordination, and
• the goal of internet for all, which requires plans for statewide coverage before the full BEAD budget can begin to be spent.