Buy America Groundswell? BEAD Supplier Requirements May Be Easier to Meet Than Expected

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has tried hard to generate excitement about Buy America requirements for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program, even enlisting US Vice President Kamala Harris in the process. While some industry stakeholders initially thought it would be difficult to meet Buy America requirements, more and more suppliers are revealing that they can. These include companies like Nokia and Adtran, both of whom were involved in high-profile announcements that they would build key fiber broadband equipment in the US, as well as other companies with lower Buy America profiles, but who, nevertheless, are expected to be able to meet Buy America requirements. One of the companies in the latter group is Calix. Like Nokia and Adtran, Calix offers fiber broadband equipment, and the company says that it is “working with our supply chain partners to ensure we have the appropriate products manufactured in the US." Among these products are optical line termination (OLT) cards and modules, as well as optical network terminals (ONTs). The fiber broadband equipment suppliers join a burgeoning group of fiber cabling suppliers that already meet or have announced that they will be able to meet Buy America requirements. These companies include Prysmian, Corning, Commscope and Superior Essex. The NTIA expects to issue a limited waiver of certain Buy America requirements. And, it would be surprising not to see a groundswell of suppliers building products in the US, considering that anyone who doesn’t could be locked out of BEAD and other funding programs.