What the Maine Broadband Office Told Us About NTIA Tweaks to BEAD Awards List

Brian Allenby, chief operating officer for Maine Connectivity Authority, is optimistic about the state’s revised award recommendations in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.  “We’re hoping it will be the final awards list,” he said. The list is almost the same as what the state sent to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for approval prior to the September 4 deadline. The main difference is that NTIA did not allow the state to award funding for certain locations. Maine said those locations should be eligible for broadband funding, but NTIA didn’t agree. The award recommendations that MCA sent to NTIA totaled about $48.4 million. The revised awards list calls for the same amount of funding. Making certain locations ineligible for funding “doesn’t materially change” the cost of a project, Allenby noted.