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In March 2022, the Federal Communications Commission issued a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 22-20) that asks if the rules should change for allocating the costs of a pole replacement that occurs when a new carrier asks to add a new wire or device onto an existing pole. The timing of this docket is in anticipation of a huge amount of rural fiber construction that will be coming as a result of the tsunami of state and federal broadband grants. The current rules push the full cost of replacing a pole onto the entity that is asking to get onto the pole.

There is a growing controversy brewing about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s decision to declare that fixed wireless technology using only unlicensed spectrum is unreliable and not worthy of funding for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants. The Wireless Internet Service Providers' Association (WISPA), the lobbying arm for the fixed wireless industry, recently stated that the NTIA has made a big mistake in excluding WISPs that use only unlicensed spectrum.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel has circulated a draft Notice of Inquiry inside the FCC to kick off the required annual report to Congress on the state of US broadband. As part of preparing that report, she is recommending that the FCC adopt a new definition of broadband of 100/20 Mbps and establish gigabit broadband as a longer-term goal. First, the FCC is late to the game since Congress has already set a speed of 100/20 Mbps for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program and other federal grant programs.

The Federal Communications Commission is requiring changes that it hopes will improve the reliability and resiliency of cellular networks to be better prepared for and respond better to emergencies. The FCC's order cites recent emergencies like Hurricane Ida, the earthquakes in Puerto Rico, severe winter storms in Texas, and worsening hurricane and wildfire seasons. This makes me wonder if we might someday see similar requirements for internet service providers (ISPs) and broadband networks.

People might wonder why so many people are needed to implement the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. I think that being in charge of a state broadband grant office has to be one of the toughest gigs in the country right now. The main purpose of this blog is to give folks an idea of the huge challenges facing each state broadband office over the next few years. One of the first things each state will have to do is to develop a detailed broadband plan that describes how the BEAD grant program will work. The BEAD grant rules are complex.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently filed a request for a six-month waiver from the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) – more colloquially referred to as the Buy American rules. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) legislation updated the BABA rules to apply to all projects that receive federal funding for infrastructure as of November 18, 2021, the date the IIJA was published in the Federal Register.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) set a new definition of broadband at 100/20 Mbps for purposes of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants – if a customer fails that test they are considered either unserved or underserved. Everybody nationwide has been so focused on download speeds that we are largely ignoring the fact that a huge number of nationwide broadband customers are not getting upload speeds of 20 Mbps.

One of the aspects of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program that many communities might have overlooked is that communities can request grants to bring fast broadband or improve existing broadband to anchor institutions.

There are new predictions of a possible recession, and it’s fair to ask if internet service providers (ISPs) should be worried about it. The question of whether broadband is recession-proof is really asking if people will willingly give up the many things that they do online. Is there a point in people’s lives where broadband becomes a necessity that they will fight to keep when times get tough? I suspect most of the people who read this blog think that broadband is essential for daily life.

I’ve already written about the complexity of applying for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants. Unfortunately, the paperwork doesn’t stop there. There are reporting requirements both for States and for grant recipients that begin when grant funds have been awarded that ask for a lot more information than any other grant I can recall. The requirements for States matter because States will likely request much of the same information from each grant recipient.