Louisiana’s Broadband BEAD Program and Proposed Reforms for Success under President Trump

I would greatly appreciate having the opportunity to serve as a thought partner and sounding board as you make necessary reforms to the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and the Broadband Equity Access Deployment (BEAD) Program. To get started on the reforms that would result in shovels in the ground quickly, I would propose the following based on our hard-won experience as the first state in the nation to achieve every major program milestone:  

• A. Reverse policy choices that skew market-driven outcomes for technology selection: 1) Reclassify Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite and unlicensed wireless services that can deliver qualifying broadband service as “Reliable Broadband Services” and eliminate the “Alternative Technology” category. 2) Permit any state to establish a simple cost per location above which no preference need be given to fiber. 3) Eliminate any policies establishing separate rules and requirements for LEO and unlicensed wireless subgrants.
• B. Remove requirements not mandated by statute to focus BEAD on achieving deployment objectives: 1) Create a menu of options for states' definitions of Low-Cost Broadband Service Options. 2) Eliminate the federal Letter of Credit mandate. 3) Eliminate unnecessary and/or punitive reporting obligations. 4) Eliminate requirements that extraneously burden states and subgrantees, including those related to climate change, cybersecurity, and supply chain risk management.
• C. Streamline NTIA and NIST requirements and commit to timely, transparent review periods: 1) Impose a 60-day or 30-day “deemed granted” shot clocks for all statutorily mandated NTIA and NIST approvals and create a publicly-available tracker showing the status of all actions pending and completed at the federal level. 2) Ensure streamlined administration of the BEAD Program.