Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in the process of increasing the definition of broadband from today’s paltry 25/3 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 100/20 Mbps. This article looks at the FCC’s decision to consider 20 Mbps as the definition of upload.

An estimated 475,000 households across Louisiana have never had high-speed, affordable, reliable internet. The state has been working at a "feverish pace" to change that. In all, Louisiana will receive nearly $2 billion for projects, including grants from the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Treasury, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The state has drawn from a number of sources to improve access.

When the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) suggested Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant rules, a lot of industry folks assumed that states would largely follow the NTIA suggestions and that there would be a lot of similarity in the BEAD grant rules between states. It turns out that the opposite is happening, and many State Broadband Offices are taking unique approaches. In this article, I compare the BEAD grant rules for Georgia and Illinois.

November 15, 2023, marks the two-year anniversary of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) becoming law. After decades spent waiting for Congress to pass such a historic infrastructure bill, this is certainly a celebratory moment. So, at the two-year mark, where do we stand? Based on our analysis of published White House data, IIJA implementation is just now hitting its stride. Formula and direct federal spending continue to move at a steady pace, already pumping $229 billion into state coffers and direct investment projects.

Preparation. PON. Previous experience. Persistence. These are just some of the attributes states should be looking for when choosing ISPs to carry out builds for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, said Verizon executive Kevin Smith. “The ISPs and the builders also have to have those people and those teams internally that are making sure that you’re delivering what you signed up for,” he said. “Whatever you agreed to in that bid, you need all that program management. It’s not just about hanging the fiber.

State policymakers face a big test—how to best spend the almost $272 million the Commerce Department allocated from its Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program as well as the funding the state receives under the Digital Equity Act. Today I want to look ahead to 2024 and talk about three challenges that all states, including Maine, will face. I also want to suggest how states can meet these challenges to ensure that this once-in-a-lifetime funding secures fast, affordable and reliable broadband Internet access for every US household. 

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program will fail if Congress doesn’t renew the Affordable Connectivity Program that states are relying on to connect low-income Americans. National Telecommunications and Information Agency Administrator Alan Davidson explained to Congress that the BEAD Program will be 

The Utah Broadband Center (UBC), part of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, asks for public feedback on Utah’s draft of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Initial Proposal Volume 2. Comments can be submitted online until Dec. 15, 2023. The second volume of the BEAD Initial Proposal outlines Utah’s strategies for allocating BEAD grant funds to broadband deployment projects across the state.

Two years after President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and other agencies have distributed billions of dollars to communities to bridge the digital divide and make participation in the digital economy a reality for everyone. At NTIA, we completed funding rounds for multiple programs in the last year and are moving to the implementation phase, all the while preparing states and territories to administer their state grant programs.

FloridaCommerce announced that the 30-day public comment period for the State of Florida’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Initial Proposal Volume I begins Wednesday, November 15, 2023, and ends on Friday, December 15, 2023. Florida’s Initial Proposal Volume I is part of Florida’s plan to operationalize more than $1.6 bi