States Still Have a Path to Fiber with BEAD

The Trump administration released new Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program guidance for states and territories meant to minimize federal spending on broadband deployment as much as possible. Among other changes to Biden-era rules, this guidance mandates that states and territories use cost efficiency of BEAD dollars as the primary criterion for making awards. Further, the new rules prohibit states from showing any preference for particular types of technologies. The new federal guidance has put broadband leaders who were hoping to prioritize fiber infrastructure in a tricky spot. Some states may be considering litigation to restore their right to prioritize fiber deployments. However, there is another mechanism that many states may consider that can bring fiber projects in alignment with the new BEAD guidance in a non-confrontational way: any state that can quickly access its own capital sources could, in theory, provide extra match dollars to fiber-based BEAD applications, bringing the federal share in line with LEO or fixed wireless bids.

[Matt Dunne is the founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, a national nonprofit committed to advancing economic prosperity in rural America through the creation of inclusive tech economy ecosystems that support scalable entrepreneurship and tech job creation.]