WISPA says NTIA BEAD rules could lead to $8.6B waste

Time is running out for wireless internet service providers (WISPs) to change the government’s mind about unlicensed spectrum. With pressure mounting, Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) CEO David Zumwalt sent a fresh letter to the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) warning its current rules could lead to $8.6 billion in broadband subsidy money being spent on areas that are already covered by fixed wireless access services using unlicensed airwaves. WISPA says NTIA's rule would impact a large subset of WISPs which have long used unlicensed spectrum as a low-cost, flexible option to reach rural areas. By deviating from precedent and marking these locations as unserved, Zumwalt argued, the NTIA could end up wasting as much as $8.6 billion in BEAD money trying to run fiber to areas already receiving 25/3 Mbps or 100/20 Mbps service. The $8.6 billion number stems from analyst calculations that the cost to deploy fiber to each of the 1.92 million locations currently served by unlicensed fixed-wireless access could be as high as $4,500.