CCG Consulting

When Tarana released the new G2 generation of radios, one of the claims the company made was that the radios are powerful enough for internet service providers to bring point-to-multipoint broadband to metropolitan areas. The new specifications support the premise. If a wireless ISP were to install a Tarana radio on an existing tall urban tower, it should easily be able to see a lot more than 2,000 homes and businesses. It’s an interesting option that brings a real wireless option for many urban homes.

Most States have now sent final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration with a list of the proposed internet service providers to win BEAD funding for every eligible location. The next step is for NTIA to review grant applications, which is now underway. NTIA has already been contacting States and establishing a cost cap for each State based on the CostQuest cost models.

North Carolina recently announced its preliminary awards for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. The State has allocated $408.5 million for preliminary BEAD awards out of an allocation of $1.5 billion. That leaves an astounding $1.1 billion on the table and likely unspent. There is some hope that the unspent money, referred to as non-deployment funds, will be at least partially available to the State for broadband-related activities. But that possibility seems to be dwindling every day.

There was an Executive Order in August 2025 from the White House that made some fundamental changes to the way that federal grants work—some positive and some negative. The EO is titled Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking. The Order instructs the Office of Management and Budget to overhaul the Uniform Grant Guidelines and other related documents related to all federal grants.

We now know the next Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment fight, and it might be the biggest one yet. On September 5, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration issued a press release talking about the progress of the Benefit of the Bargain round for States to award BEAD funding. The press release announced that 36 of 56 States and Territories have made tentative BEAD awards and have submitted their final proposals to NTIA.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ordered, in August 2024, that all broadband providers in the country open their networks to competitors on a wholesale open-access network. The original unbundling order applied to broadband provided on both cable TV and fiber networks. The original ordered that open-access be implemented by February 2025. Similar to what happens in the U.S., various aspects of the rule were appealed at the CRTC.

We’re less than eight months into the new administration, and considering that short amount of time, an unprecedented amount of deregulation has been coming out of the federal government related to broadband and telecommunications issues. Regulatory changes aren’t just coming from the Federal Communications Commission, but also from the White House, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Congress, and other agencies like the Federal Trade Commission. Just a few of the deregulatory changes that have happened so far:

There is an interesting docket at the Federal Communications Commission that is examining the ability of a city to sign an exclusive agreement with an internet service provider that keeps other new ISPs out of the market. The case involves Cottage Grove (MN), a suburb of St. Paul with a population of around 43,000. The City of Cottage Grove signed an agreement with Gateway Fiber to build fiber throughout the city.

AT&T announced at the end of 2024 that it plans to retire all copper networks by the end of 2029. The Federal Communications Commission noted in a recent filing that the use of traditional telephone service has decreased rapidly over time. The transition away from copper is going largely unnoticed in urban areas since customers typically have good alternatives to a landline.

Within a month after the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program was announced, there were a lot of predictions that the program was going to be a huge giveaway to the largest telephone and cable companies. There was some reason for that outlook, since there had been huge giveaways to large companies in the past, such as the $10 billion Connect America Fund Phase II fiasco. I felt optimistic from the beginning that BEAD would not all go to big companies due to the fact that BEAD was being driven by States, and not by federal grant programs.