NTIA Trying to Regulate Through BEAD

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has circulated guidance to Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program grant winners titled BEAD Subgrantees: Protect Your Rights. The overall tenor of the document is odd in that it invites an internet service provider to directly contact NTIA if it thinks the contract offered by a State Broadband Office contradicts NTIA policy. Where I think NTIA went off the rails is a set of requirements related to permitting:

• NTIA wants a 90-day shot clock for the approval or rejection of permitting requests.
• Grant winners can demand a single, dedicated point of contact for broadband-related permits.
• Permits must allow the construction techniques chosen by the grant winner.
• Batch processing of permit requests must be allowed.
• Grant winners must not be subjected to unnecessarily duplicative or burdensome permitting requirements.

I find these requirements to be odd since NTIA doesn’t have the regulatory authority to specify permitting rules. For the most part, States also don’t control permitting rules and processes, which are left up to local jurisdictions. It’s highly questionable in most States if the Broadband Office can even assert any real influence over permitting practices for State highways.