Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

Now that Broadband Offices have started the process of soliciting Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant applications, I thought I’d discuss a topic that anybody who wins a BEAD grant is going to care about—how a Broadband Office will reimburse grant winners for making expenditures. You might think this is straightforward, but unfortunately it is not. Grant offices are taking a wide variety of approaches to how they reimburse internet service providers (ISPs) for grant expenditures. Why does the method of payment matter? It probably doesn’t to giant ISPs.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) sees the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program as Virginia’s opportunity to finish the job of extending broadband access and also make long-term, transformational investments into broadband affordability and adoption. With the $1.48 billion in BEAD funds for Virginia, DHCD is finalizing plans to extend broadband infrastructure to the remaining unserved locations without a funded solution for connectivity and designing programs to meaningfully address broadband affordability and adoption.

When will the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) money start flowing? Most states have had their Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 processes approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), according to NTIA’s Progress Dashboard. Vol. 1 is focused on the mapping challenge process, and Vol. 2 consists of the remainder of the state’s BEAD implementation plan. Yet, the wait continues.

On November 15, 2021, U.S. Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which created the Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (BEAD) program. BEAD’s $42.45 billion budget makes it the largest federal broadband deployment program to date.

In a nation where some states didn’t have broadband offices until a year or so ago, North Carolina and the state’s director of broadband infrastructure, Angela “Angie” Bailey, are relative broadband veterans. The state has been involved in broadband for 20 years and Bailey has been the broadband director since 2021—a heritage that should benefit the state as the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program unfolds. Beginning in 2018, North Carolina allocated $15 million per year for broadband, Bailey explained.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Arkansas’ Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative.  This approval enables Arkansas to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program. Arkansas was allocated over $1 billion to deploy or upgrade Internet networks to ensure that everyone has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service.  

Access to reliable and affordable high-speed internet remains a pressing need across the U.S., especially in states with higher rural populations. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program aims to address the connectivity gap between those who have access and those who don’t.

Although a great deal of attention is on the 2024 elections at the national level, state elections could play a major role in how high-speed networks are rolled out, particularly in regards to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The need for reliable communications is very apparent in the state this week. Since Friday, September 27, Western North Carolina has been experiencing catastrophic flooding as a result of Hurricane Helene.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved $172 million in the sixth round of grants for last mile broadband projects as part of the $2 billion Last Mile Federal Funding Account Grant Program, which expands broadband internet access for underserved and unserved communities across California.