State Broadband Directors Talk BEAD Timelines, Provider Participation

The thinking behind the $42.5 billion BEAD rural funding program was that individual states were better positioned than the federal government to understand their local needs and tailor state-level rules accordingly, and we are seeing a lot of variation from state to state. A case in point: Two Midwestern states—Minnesota and Missouri—have mapped out two somewhat different paths for administering the BEAD program. Missouri will be one of the largest recipients of BEAD funding, with $1.7 billion allotted to the state. One of the things Missouri wants to do differently from other states is to allow providers to determine the areas where they would like to build, said BJ Tanksley, director of Missouri’s Office of Broadband. On the other hand, Minnesota will prioritize local coordination and support. Local support can be critical to preventing a provider from doing a deployment that requires the provider to charge a price that is so high that residents do not sign up for service, said Bree Maki, executive director of Minnesota’s Office of Broadband Development.