Two large challenges for the future of rural broadband, Bloomfield said, are supply chain issues and workforce development.

Bloomfield said she hopes Congress and the FCC will consider the role big tech companies should play in Universal Service funding.

Shirley Bloomfield said the biggest challenge to the promise of BEAD is the revised guidelines’ emphasis on technology neutrality.

The latest NTCA rural broadband survey found that 79% of customers have 1 Gbps service available to them and 92% can get 100 Mbps service.

The NTCA event covered the Universal Service Fund, the BEAD Program, permitting reform, and other broadband policy issues.

The report looked at how wearable, broadband-connected technology can protect those at risk of domestic violence and sexual assault.
