Washington State's Benefit of the Bargain round closes with huge interest

More than 500 applications from nearly 30 eligible entities came in for the Washington State Broadband Office’s hugely popular Benefit of the Bargain (BotB) Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) WSBO 25-03. Applications closed July 23. The team is reviewing applications to ensure they meet the program's requirements. Early data from the applications indicates strong interest in building broadband networks across the state to ensure everyone has access to high-speed internet. By the numbers:

• 555 applications from 29 different eligible entities, with proposed projects across the technology spectrum, including fiber, cable, low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite, licensed, licensed-by-rule, and unlicensed fixed wireless
• 15 eligible entities requested that their earlier application round submissions be transferred and evaluated in the BotB round, resulting in an additional 113 applications
• All 232 project areas received at least one application
• 213 of the 232 project areas received two or more applications