Why Astound declined BEAD awards in Oregon and Texas

Astound Vice President of Regulatory Broadband and Community Relations Fred Maldonado said Astound had submitted 33 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program applications in Texas, designed to form a single, contiguous fiber route extending from the company’s existing network into more than 30 counties. The state ultimately awarded only five of those applications, leaving Astound with counties sitting far from its existing footprint. “It regrettably became impossible to justify the expense to build to these counties,” Maldonado said. Oregon presented a similar problem. Astound submitted 25 BEAD applications in the state and won 12, according to Maldonado, who said the resulting gaps in the network drove up construction costs. “The awarded areas were not close enough to Astound’s existing network to financially justify the build, so we regrettably had to decline,” he said. Maldonado also highlighted how much time had elapsed between Astound’s BEAD application submissions and the final awards. During that stretch, costs rose considerably in every state where the company had applied, compounding the challenges created by the noncontiguous project areas. Astound forfeited about $166 million in provisional Texas awards and roughly $90.6 million of their Oregon award. Astound wasn’t alone in their decision, with other providers in both states—including Resound Networks in Texas and Siuslaw Broadband, Hunter Communications, and QLife in Oregon—also stepping away from portions of their awards.