Improving the Permitting Process for Fiber Network Stakeholders

As states gear up to allocate Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) money, the challenges of permitting are top-of-mind for all parties involved in the process. To ensure that local governments and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can reduce broadband network construction challenges, The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in partnership with the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, the American Association for Public Broadband, Fiber Broadband Association, Brightspeed, and GFiber, held a summit earlier to discuss the issues and recommend solutions for increasing the speed of permitting. Three key findings emerged from the assembled group: Interactions and partnerships should rise between the ISP and local government, how to improve the permitting process itself, and the need for additional resources.