Federal

Conexon Partner and former Federal Communications Commission planner Jonathan Chambers warned that the FCC’s broadband mapping effort is headed for disaster—flagging potential issues with state-level mapping efforts which he said could slow or bias the funding allocation process for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program support. There are two primary problems at the federal level. The first is the method Congress has chosen for calculating the ratio of BEAD funding given to each state on top of the baseline $100 million allocation that has been granted across the board. Un

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on the proposed eligible services list (ESL) for the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism (more commonly known as the E-Rate program) for funding year 2023. The FCC has included its proposed eligible services list here and invites stakeholders to comment.

It seemed like a really big deal when the ReConnect program and the new Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants upped the amount of federal grants to 75% of funding. But, I still see a lot of situations where a 75% grant is not enough assistance to create a viable ongoing business plan. It is the interplay of many variables that determine the percentage of grant funding that is needed for any particular broadband provider in a given market.