Preliminary applications from Vermont broadband service providers (BSPs) for funding by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program could serve virtually every eligible address in the state, according to the Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB).
The BSPs’ applications for a share of the $229 million the state is receiving were made to Vermont’s BEAD organization, VT-BEAD. BSPs had to declare areas they would serve and whether services would be provided by fiber, cable, fixed wireless or other approach.
VT-BEAD said that eligible locations receive 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload or slower speeds. All of these areas got at least one preliminary application. 95% of the preliminary applications involved fiber. In all, nine BSPs submitted preliminary applications.
VCBB says that Vermont consists of 32 project areas containing 16,895 eligible locations that will be open for BEAD full proposals beginning on March 6, 2025. The VCBB is incentivizing fiber optic bids. Funding is expected to be awarded late this year, and projects must be completed four years after ISPs receive their funds.
Last July, Christine Hallquist, the Executive Director of the Vermont broadband office, offered details to Telecompetitor about how BEAD will roll out in the state.
Two key points:
- Locations in Vermont will be eligible for BEAD funding even if the only high-speed service available is fixed wireless.
- The state will not have a single extremely high-cost threshold. Instead, each project area will have its own high-cost threshold. Hallquist said this is important because it will determine whether an applicant must use fiber or can deploy an alternative technology.
The state’s BEAD Pre-proposal portal opened last December. This officially began the VT-BEAD Subrecipient Selection process.
Additional information about Vermont broadband, including state funding resources, awards made, BEAD information, and state specific Telecompetitor coverage can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state
