Remember the song, “Let’s Give Love a Chance?” (Okay, there were actually numerous versions of a song with that title, but you get the idea). I’ve been thinking a lot about the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program lately and find myself feeling the same way.
Before we get to the “give it a chance” discussion, we have to acknowledge there are some places BEAD simply won’t work. Whether it’s the nature of the area to be served or specific rules that don’t fit well in a given state or for a given provider, there will be some situations in which BEAD just doesn’t add up. But it’s important that we figure out where that’s happening on a case-by-case basis, rather than categorically shrugging shoulders and saying, “It’s just not for me or those potential customers,” without any further thought or review.
So, this is to say: let’s give BEAD a chance. Take a serious look at the program in your state and the unserved or underserved areas that might be eligible for bidding and do some due diligence around what your participation might look like. If you don’t, someone else might (or will) and you could end up with a less experienced but well-funded competitor’s network on your doorstep or even in your ILEC area for those parts that you haven’t finished building out yet.
I’m not going to lie, living through the formation of BEAD after the jubilation around the signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has felt a little bit like a rollercoaster ride with lots of ups and downs and twists and turns. There have been moments of clarity and confusion. But this is an opportunity for NTCA members to partake in the biggest broadband grant program ever conceived, and the threat of that funding possibly being utilized to overbuild their already low margin networks exists in even the most rural parts of our country. For a trade association, following the federal path while also trying to help guide our members through dozens of different state procedures and plans can be and has been challenging. There have been moments of great frustration watching requirements with good intent weigh down enthusiasm for the program. But it’s also been rewarding, particularly as moments of real alignment occur with the policymakers who have spent thousands of hours trying to roll out this historic program in a workable way.
Sure, there have certainly been moments when I was happier to be on our side of the table where it’s been easier to spot problems than on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) side of the table trying to solve problems. But at the end of the day, this is about a program that has been designed to get as many Americans connected as possible to the best broadband access and technology possible, and the path was never going to be a straight one.
NTCA has raised many concerns along the way with the NTIA team, and I have appreciated their engagement and willingness to listen. They’ve tackled and refined concerns raised about finding more workable ways to manage through Buy America requirements, deal with Part 200 rules and address letters of credit. Is that enough? Maybe not in some cases, as questions remain about other strings attached, the sizes of the areas to be reached, the rates that can be charged and how applications will be scored. But we continue to weigh in on these issues as well.
For example, in May, NTCA sent a letter to NTIA following a visit that a number of our Women in Telecom leaders had with Secretary Gina Raimondo’s team at the Commerce Department. In the spirit of being constructive, we shared our appreciation for their commitment to the success of the BEAD program and the agency’s ongoing efforts to encourage smaller broadband providers to participate in it. NTCA members have a longstanding commitment to deploying the best possible networks and delivering the best possible service in rural areas considered economically unfeasible by most providers. Additionally, they have participated consistently in prior grant programs overseen by other agencies, and they remain eager to help close the digital divide in unserved areas – much like they have done in the deeply rural areas they already serve.
In that May letter, we also laid out potential obstacles we saw in bringing all our members to the table to participate in BEAD. That included project service area sizing, the low-cost option and potential rate mandates, weighting of matching funds in BEAD scoring and mapping, mapping, mapping. We have had subsequent conversations with the NTIA leadership team and continue to try to find problem-solving strategies to address these challenges, understanding the complexity of a program that is federally charged but state implemented and all the variations and complications that come from that structure.
Those critical conversations continue, and while I would love to say that we have broken through these implementation obstacles, much of this is still a work in progress. But sometimes in Washington, we just need to seize the opportunity to make our case, present our data and realities and work with policymakers to find a way to thread a needle. This needle is an important one because we think the success of this program will largely depend on the quality of providers that participate. There is no other sector of this industry that understands better the challenges, costs and unique circumstances of bringing broadband to rural and remote areas of this country like NTCA broadband providers.