Rules for the $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program give individual states considerable leeway in how they define project areas—and broadband providers applying for funding should expect to see considerable variation from one state to the next. Depending on the state, providers may even be able to define their own project areas. There is considerable variation among states that are allowing providers to define their own project area. For example, Louisiana established clusters of Hex9s, which the state calls sub project areas (SPAs). Providers can group SPAs together to define the areas they want to serve. States that allow providers to establish their own project areas have an important issue to address – how to address overlapping project areas. In Louisiana, the question would be: What if two providers define project areas that overlap in certain SPAs, but each provider also bid on certain other SPAs? The answer is that in the first round, the highest-scoring provider would win funding for the overlap area and the other provider’s bid would be rejected in its entirety. But the second provider could apply in the next round for the portion of its original bid area that the competitor didn’t win.

On May 16, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission approved a transfer of a domestic section 214 authorization from Echo Wireless Broadband to Resound Networks. As a result of this approval, the Parties have received FCC consent to transfer certain assets of Echo—including Echo’s Connect America Fund Phase II auction (CAF Phase II) support and associated obligations to serve eligible areas in Texas and New Mexico—to Resound. As a condition of this authorization, Resound assumes sole responsibility for complying with universal service fund requirements and FCC rules, regardless of any preexisting or reasonably foreseeable conditions that could impact Resound’s ability to meet its obligations in the future, including any technical, marketplace, and on-the-ground conditions. In sum, the FCC now authorizes Resound to receive the support associated with the Assigned Census Blocks. 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited a recently completed Comcast rural broadband project in Stafford County, Virginia, highlighting that this is a public-private project between Comcast and the county. The giant cable company is involved in public-private partnerships across its national footprint. For years cable operators such as Comcast, Charter and Cox have fought hard against municipal broadband projects, always crying that it’s wrong for taxpayer dollars to compete against their private investments. But now, the competitive landscape is shifting. There’s a lot of taxpayer money available through government programs such as ARPA and most significantly through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Cable incumbents are competing against fiber providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Frontier, and they’ll all be competing against upstart fiber and fixed wireless providers to win public-private contracts.

North Texas Innovation Alliance is a 501(c)3 regional consortium of over 40 municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions across North Texas working to create the most connected, smart and resilient region in the country. The alliance is re-launching the "Internet for North Texas Coalition” (I4NTX). In partnership with the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), this coalition represents a collaborative effort across North Texas to prioritize broadband infrastructure and access, supporting digital equity for all residents. NTXIA, together with the NCTCOG and members of the Texas Governor’s Broadband Council, will spearhead this initiative, building on the work of the Dallas-focused Internet for All Coalition while expanding efforts to the regional level. Originally launched in 2020 with the establishment of Operation Connectivity, the Internet for All Coalition illustrated disparities in broadband access at the school district and neighborhood level, which set the ambitious target of connecting every K-16 student to high-speed broadband at home. The I4NTX coalition will engage public and academic entities across the region to address key elements and challenges of broadband efforts, including data, policy, infrastructure and equitable access. The coalition will also lead a subcommittee of 20-30 public sector practitioners that will advise elected officials from the Regional Transportation Council to form a legislative program to address regional digital needs with the Texas legislature. It will also encourage local municipalities to designate broadband technical leads and share best practices for achieving universal broadband access.

T-Mobile acquired a boatload of 2.5 GHz spectrum when it acquired Sprint in 2020, and it paid $304 million to win the lion’s share of licenses in the Federal Communications Commission’s Auction 108. Now it’s involved in a spectrum swap with SoniqWave Network to get even more 2.5 GHz spectrum. In a recent FCC application, T-Mobile explained that it struck an agreement to swap 3.45 GHz licenses for some 2.5 GHz spectrum that’s licensed and leased to SoniqWave. Even though AT&T and Dish Network were the big spenders in the 2021 3.45 GHz auction, T-Mobile acquired 199 licenses. It’s giving up a portion of those licenses in this transaction. The filing describes SoniqWave as a startup wireless service provider that offers wholesale wireless broadband and private network services in various markets throughout the U.S. Its executive team is composed of several wireless industry pioneers who are well acquainted with the 2.5 GHz band.