Tarana walks providers through BEAD challenge process

The $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is top of mind right now, as states kick off their challenge process to figure out which locations need to be covered by BEAD projects. Tarana Wireless hosted a webinar to address questions for internet service providers. Gabriel Moran, government affairs and policy associate at Tarana, said a lot of the discussion surrounding the BEAD program has “overlooked and sometimes [misunderstood] the significance of the steps that make up the pre-bid process.” Moran explained in the conversations Tarana’s had with provider, “many folks have indicated they do not intend to submit project bid applications as part of the BEAD program.” Moran said that this is understandable, but that providers should still participate in the BEAD challenge process, calling it an opportunity “to help prevent any sort of BEAD overbuild from threatening [a provider's] network. It’s also an opportunity for provider “to capitalize on offensive growth opportunities that frankly, may no longer exist after the BEAD program is finished.”