NTCA Calls for Accountability and Transparency in Measuring BEAD Performance

NTCA urges the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to further advance accountability and transparency in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program by publicly releasing (or directing Eligible Entities to publish, as applicable) the results of each subgrantee’s performance testing. To help policymakers and the public at large ascertain the ultimate success or shortcomings of individual awardees’ efforts, each subgrantee’s download and upload speeds, latency, and network availability testing results should be posted on the NTIA website—not anonymously, but rather on a subgrantee-by-subgrantee basis. Public release of this performance testing data will enable American taxpayers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to assess which consumers and regions of the country are in fact receiving the benefit of the bargain from the BEAD program in terms of robust and reliable service delivery. It will also serve as an efficient incentive for providers to follow through on their commitment to serve their communities because the American people will be able to identify where individual providers have rightly focused not just on building networks or dedicating capacity, but on delivering the actual services that ultimately matter most to the American consumer.