BEAD and Vendors
It’s clear that the new National Telecommunications and Information Administration guidelines for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program will both significantly pare down the overall outlay from the $42.5 billion BEAD grant program and also will reduce the amount of the grant funding that will be used for fiber construction. Any shift away from fiber will have a definite impact on fiber cable vendors like Corning, CommScope, Lightera, and Prysmian. Fiber vendors love rural projects like BEAD since low population density means a lot of miles of fiber are needed.