NDIA Affiliates and Partners Tell NTIA to Fund Broadband Adoption

National Digital Inclusion Alliance affiliates and partners showed up en masse to the two listening sessions the National Telecommunications and Information Administration hosted on February 11 and February 18 to “gather input from stakeholders to inform NTIA’s future planning and policy development” for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program’s non-deployment funds. With 1,500 people registered, the first listening session was so oversubscribed that the agency hosted a second session. Attendees were granted two minutes to speak and encouraged to outline the guidance NTIA should provide to States and Territories, and offer suggestions for the funds that could ‘help accelerate the implementation of the remaining BEAD funding.’ Of the 85 speakers across the two sessions, 38 percent were NDIA affiliates and partners (22 NDIA affiliates and 10 partner organizations). And more who were unable to join in person submitted written input. The most frequent request, with over 43 verbal comments, was for NTIA to implement the law as designed, allowing states to leverage the funds to implement broadband adoption work.