The state poised to receive the largest amount of rural broadband funding in the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program — $3.3 billion — has closed its Benefit of the Bargain round.
Telecompetitor talked with Wes Robinson, director of regulatory affairs for Eastex Telephone Cooperative, about his analysis of the Texas applications — information that has been circulating in the broadband industry.
Robinson also told us about an analysis that the Texas Broadband Development Office did of the results, which showed that most of the eligible project area units (PAUs) — 3,294 out of 3,352 — received at least one application.
For PAUs that didn’t receive applications, the state will “look at applicants that are nearby” to negotiate with the applicant about serving those areas, explained Robinson, who is also chair of the regulatory committee for the Texas Telephone Association.
70 entities applied for funding in the Texas Benefit of the Bargain round, according to Robinson’s analysis.
The Benefit of the Bargain round is the only round that Texas has done in the BEAD program. The state put previous plans to accept applications on hold when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) changed the rules for the BEAD program in early June.
Robinson’s analysis looked at the number of eligible locations for which each of the 70 entities had submitted applications. At the top of the list was low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband provider SpaceX, which requested funding for 244,596 locations.
SpaceX was followed by AMG Technology Investment Group/ Nextlink Internet, which applied for funding for 204,846 locations. Nextlink traditionally was a fixed wireless provider. In recent years, it has begun deploying fiber broadband in some areas. But considering the new BEAD rules — which eliminate the preference for fiber — it’s likely that some or all the applications requested funding for fixed wireless.
Third on the list was another LEO satellite operator — Amazon Kuiper — which requested funding for 160,304 locations.
Major players on the list include Astound, AT&T, Comcast, Consolidated, and Frontier. Also on the list were rural telecom providers, rural electric companies, fixed wireless providers, and cable companies, as well as local governments and counties.
A total of $6.4 billion was requested by BEAD applicants, according to the Texas Broadband Office.
One reason Texas may have seen such strong interest in BEAD is that the state created a program to help cover the 25% matching funds that applicants must contribute toward the cost of their projects.
The state contributed $600 million to the BEAD program that applicants could request to use toward their matching funds, Robinson said.
