The New Jersey Office of Broadband Connectivity (OBC) and its director, Vallary Bullard, answered 16 questions from Telecompetitor recently. Here’s what we learned.
Q: When was your state broadband office established and how big is your staff?
A: January 2023; eight staff members.
Q: How and when did you become broadband director? What piqued your interest in the job?
A: Appointed January 2023. An opportunity to support the Administration’s goal, to ensure all residents have access to affordable high-speed internet.
Q: What was your experience prior to that?
A: Most recently served as the first Broadband Advisor and Transparency Officer for the New Jersey Governor’s Disaster Recovery Office. Before joining the Governor’s Office, served as the Senior IT Project Manager and Software Development Specialist at the Department of Community Affairs where was responsible for overseeing the modernizing of state applications and the migration of legacy applications.
Q: Applications for New Jersey’s broadband deployment program, the Broadband Infrastructure Deployment Equity (NJBIDE) program, were due in early February. How soon do you expect to make awards?
A: OBC plans to finalize NJBIDE funding awards by April 30, 2025.
Q: New Jersey has another broadband funding program that funds connectivity for school buses and is administered by New Jersey Transit. I think funding for that program and the NJBIDE program came through the federal Capital Projects Fund, correct?
A: Correct.
Q: Do you have any other broadband deployment programs other than those and the BEAD program?
A: No.
Q: New Jersey was allocated $264 million in the BEAD program. How many unserved and underserved locations will be eligible for funding? Do you think you will be able to reach them all?
A: At the beginning of our challenge process, there were 6,000 underserved and 20,000 unserved locations. We are confident that we will reach all of them.
Q: Current BEAD rules call for deploying fiber as much as possible. Do you have an estimate of what percentage of eligible locations will be able to get fiber?
A: Not at this time.
Q: Current NTIA guidelines say that funding should go toward fiber unless no one applies to deploy fiber, in which case the funding can go to other technologies that NTIA considers reliable such as fixed wireless using licensed spectrum or cable broadband. And if a location is extremely high-cost, funding can go to fixed wireless using unlicensed spectrum or low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Is that how your rules are structured?
A: As directed by the BEAD rules, fiber applications meeting minimum requirements and proposed for a project area that received no other applications will be provisionally awarded without scoring. After all awardable fiber applications are resolved, reliable alternative technologies (i.e., cable/HFC and licensed fixed wireless) will be considered following the same process.
Q: Did you challenge the FCC and NTIA availability data in time to impact your BEAD allocation?
A: Yes.
Q: How will you define BEAD Project areas and why did you make that choice?
A: OBC will determine and publish “Project Area Building Blocks” (PABBs). Potential subgrantees will have the flexibility to design their overall project area proposals by combining a set of PABBs.
All applications will specify the set of PABBs the overall program area encompasses. The smallest PABBs are expected to be approximately the same or equivalent in size to a Census Block Group, though the size of PABBs may vary, including as small as a single location.
As needed, OBC may create larger PABBs or PABBs that do not match Census Block Group (CBG) boundaries to improve the potential of connecting all unserved and underserved broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) in New Jersey (e.g., to support the potential of increased competition, to create more economically viable PABBs by combining higher- and lower-need locations within PABB boundaries).
Most importantly, PABBs will only include every unserved and underserved BSL and CAI within its boundaries (i.e., no served locations) and individual broadband serviceable locations will be considered unserved service projects and underserved service projects, respectively.
Q: When do you think you’ll begin accepting BEAD applications?
A: By Q3 2025.
Q: When do you estimate BEAD deployments will begin?
A: By Q2 2026.
Q: How many funding rounds do you expect to do? Will there be different rules for different rounds?
A: OBC’s subgrant process consists of one round with at least two phases. No new providers will be able to apply during the second phase.
Q: Is there anything about your BEAD plans that’s different from what a lot of other states are doing?
A: We’re leveraging partnerships with existing state programs to amplify the impact of broadband investments. We’ve integrated innovative strategies, prioritizing workforce development to ensure we have the talent pipeline needed for long-term success.
Q: What are you most proud of about your BEAD plans?
A: New Jersey is most proud of how our BEAD plans prioritize equity, accessibility, and inclusivity. We’ve taken a community-first approach, engaging with residents, local governments, and stakeholders across the state to ensure that the plan addresses real-world connectivity gaps, particularly in underserved and unserved areas.
Additional information about broadband in New Jersey, including links to state funding resources, awards made, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
