Cost overruns are the biggest concern for BEAD winners now

Three years ago, the Mountain Connect conference in Denver was bursting with excitement and enthusiasm. State broadband offices were either completing their final Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment proposals, or they were actively reviewing bids from sub-grantees. The talk was all about “putting shovels in the ground.” And there was a keynote interview with SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell, which turned out to be eerily prescient. Last year at Mountain Connect, the vibe was definitely deflated. The Trump Administration had changed the rules for final proposals, and state broadband offices were rushing to re-do all their paperwork. But this year, all BEAD final proposals (with the exception of Illinois) have been approved, and operators as well as state broadband offices are finally entering the deployment phase of fiber broadband projects. Now, the question on everyone’s mind is how to make these projects profitable. And it’s a concern because a lot of things have changed in the past couple of years.