States face a long winding road ahead for BEAD

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has said 2024 will be “the year of execution” for Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD). But the agency still has a ways to go in approving initial proposals for each state and territory. Louisiana was the first to get its plan approved in December. Since then, Kansas, Nevada and West Virginia have been the only states to get the greenlight to start their grant programs. So, what’s the hold up? Joanne Hovis, president of CTC Technology & Energy, thinks we’re about to see a wave of approved initial proposals in the next few weeks. She noted every state and territory was required to submit volume two of their initial proposals by December 27—and they did. Once all the proposals came in, NTIA began what the agency calls “curing,” which is “their review and their requests for changes where they believe it’s necessary for compliance with the law.” Right now, most states are undertaking the map challenge process, where they give residents an opportunity to correct inaccuracies in the state’s broadband map.