The possibility that providers have already or are in the process of building networks in areas approved for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding can and should be avoided by the creation of a “true-up” process to ensure that locations still qualify, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).
The request came in a letter from NRECA CEO Jim Matheson to Alan Davidson, the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Location eligibility is based on data from the FCC’s December 2023 national broadband map and subsequent state challenge processes, the letter says. This opens the possibility that some locations — based on data that is almost a year old — would no longer qualify for BEAD funding.
In those situations, the NRECA letter says, allowing projects to proceed would amount to using BEAD funds for an overbuild project. That result can be avoided by executing a “true-up” before final approval is granted.
The “true-up” process, the letter says, would enable existing providers to prove they offer service at the location and thereby and that the location is ineligible for BEAD-funded projects. These “true-ups” should only consider fiber deployments that meet the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
Such a process would enable BEAD to bring service to more areas that truly need it and in other ways optimize funds, Matheson writes.
“There are significant discrepancies between the FCC’s December 2023 map data, subsequent state challenges and rural networks either built since then or currently under construction. As a result, BEAD funding could be awarded to overbuild locations where reliable internet service has since been, or soon will be, deployed. This is inconsistent with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity and must not be allowed,” the NRECA CEO wrote.
