A group of bipartisan state legislators representing 28 states signed a letter asking U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to permit the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to allow state Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) plans and digital equity (DE) programs to proceed without delay.
Any program changes should be optional, rather than mandatory, the letter added, because mandatory changes could undo the signees’ BEAD and DE plans and delay broadband deployment by more than a year.
“After three years of preparation, we are just now beginning to implement our BEAD and DE programs,” the letter from the legislators states.
“And, so far, it is going very well. For BEAD, initial grant rounds have resulted in nearly universal coverage, widespread competition, and substantial winnings for local and regional providers. For example, Louisiana has achieved 95% fiber coverage, 3% wireless/cable, and 2% satellite; Nevada achieved 83% fiber coverage, 7% wireless/cable, and 9% satellite; and Delaware achieved 100% fiber coverage.”
Twenty-five percent of rural residents don’t have broadband access, the letter added. “State BEAD and DE programs have been designed by and for state stakeholders, and they are poised to bring high-speed, reliable, affordable, and scalable broadband to virtually every last one of our constituents. Please respect the results of this process. At this late stage, major changes would undermine our work and delay deployment by years.”
The letter’s creators are still accepting signatures from legislators who wish to add their names to the list of those concerned about BEAD.
The legislators’ letter follows recent communications from two states regarding potential BEAD changes after Lutnick and House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) suggested that BEAD needed to be adjusted last month. Both bemoaned the fact that no rural homes have yet been served by the program, which was part of the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
In response, Maine and Minnesota both contacted the U.S. Department of Commerce concerning potential changes that may be made to the $42.45 billion BEAD Program.
