Getting Rural America ‘the Benefit of the Bargain’ Rather than ‘the Short End of the Stick’

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program presents an opportunity for NTCA members and others committed to rural vitality to deliver the broadband that rural America deserves. Our job is to act immediately and forcefully in a focused way to turn this opportunity into reality, even after all the twists and turns in the program’s development to date. NTCA suggests three specific areas to focus on in getting BEAD implementation right:

1. Only “scalable” projects can be deemed a priority for funding. It is now up to each state to determine whether a proposed network technology is scalable and worthy of priority. This means the states are both authorized and empowered to do the kind of intensive review lacking in prior broadband funding programs, and they should seize this opportunity. 
2. To measure and validate the reasonableness of cost, states should use the various models previously procured by agencies and/or published by stakeholders showing the costs of deploying networks in rural areas.
3. The states still have an important (albeit somewhat rushed) role to play in refining location eligibility. The Notice of Funding Opportunity directs states to reach out to entities claiming to offer unlicensed fixed wireless service on the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map and require them to “submit evidence that BEAD funding is not required” for certain locations showing as served on the map. Here again, the Notice gives states flexibility to define the process for updating the eligibility map—for example, a state should consider what “evidence” is required, taking into account what the National Broadband Map does and does not represent.