New BEAD: Much Ado About Nothing

To the surprise of nobody who has been following the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program train wreck, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration pulled a fast one with the non-deployment funds. Rather than giving guidance on the $21 billion of non-deployment funds, NTIA has instead determined that some tiny portion of the non-deployment funds can now be used to build more infrastructure. That sounds really good on paper, because who’s not in favor of building more infrastructure? As you might expect, because this is BEAD, the new grant process is complicated. First, NTIA is developing a list of eligible locations for the new funding. The agency has already claimed victory several times over the last year, saying that BEAD has basically solved the rural broadband gap, so it’s hard to think NTIA will find many other meaningful unserved locations. All of this is a very convenient delaying tactic for NTIA, since it takes NTIA off the hook for providing guidance for the bulk of the non-deployment funds until the new infrastructure spending has been completely resolved through signing contracts with grant winners.