NTIA's chief of staff responds to BEAD criticisms

The $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program is moving ahead again following changes to a less fiber-focused and more cost-oriented approach that has opened the door to fixed wireless access and satellite broadband options. The updates to the program and the delays it has caused have, naturally, been a source of frustration for states that feel they need to rebid for projects, along with network builders, vendors and service providers. Brooke Donilon, chief of staff at the NTIA, took on many of those criticisms at a Mountain Connect event in Denver (CO), holding that changes to the program, while frustrating for some in the short term, will provide long-term benefits. Donilon, who joined NTIA in April, acknowledged that there was a "very natural frustration" about the changes, which caused some to go back to the drawing board.