When the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released new guidelines for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rural broadband funding program earlier this month, the deadline for applying for funding had already passed in Vermont and administrators were about to begin the scoring process.
Nevertheless, Christine Hallquist, executive director of the Vermont broadband office, told Telecompetitor on Friday that the changes won’t be tremendously disruptive — at least not in Vermont.
Initial BEAD rules prioritized fiber and allowed the use of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and unlicensed fixed wireless only for extremely high-cost areas. New rules put those technologies on an equal footing with fiber and require states to essentially award funding to the lowest bidder.
There are several reasons why the changes won’t have a huge impact in Vermont, according to Hallquist.
One reason is that the rules that the state previously established for BEAD enabled applicants to specify any technology. Hallquist expected to award a large portion of the money for fiber, though — and she doesn’t expect that to change dramatically, despite the new rules.
“We clearly had enough money to get to every address, including 95% with fiber and the rest with alternative technology,” Hallquist told us.
Other reasons Vermont isn’t expecting BEAD changes to have a huge impact relate to the state’s small population and its geographic challenges.
Neither SpaceX nor Amazon appplied for BEAD funding and Hallquist doesn’t expect that to change.
“If I were Starlink, I wouldn’t offer service here,” she commented. “We’re only two-tenths of one percent of the U.S. population and one tenth of one percent of the economy.”
And, because of the state’s mountainous nature and heavy deciduous tree coverage, there are many places where LEO broadband wouldn’t work, she said.
The situation for unlicensed fixed wireless access (FWA) is similar.
Hallquist noted that, in some states, 25% of locations are served by unlicensed fixed wireless access (FWA). In Vermont, however, less than 1% of locations are served by unlicensed FWA, and she doesn’t expect to see many new BEAD bids using FWA.
“They need to have towers and it’s almost impossible to build new towers,” she said.
Providers need to put those towers on hilltops and, as Hallquist explained, “the sites that have power are already taken and it’s too expensive to run power [to the others].”
New Bids?
Other changes to the BEAD program relaxed climate change; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and other requirements with the aim of making it more attractive for providers to apply.
Hallquist believes the state may get a few new applications to deliver fiber broadband and may see some companies that previously applied submitting new bids requesting a lower amount of support.
“Some [applicants] have stated that they will reduce the cost in their next bid,” she said.
Another factor that could make it more attractive for providers to apply or submit a new bid is that the new rules allow providers to take some locations out of a project area, Hallquist noted.
An Extremely High-Cost Threshold
The new NTIA rules stopped short of establishing a nationwide high-cost threshold, but they do say that the agency will reject projects with “excessive” costs.
When Telecompetitor asked Hallquist about that, she said “We have a list of the actual cost [to deploy service] for every address. We’re able to apply some math to that. Most bids [cluster] around a certain number.”
She anticipates applying a bell curve to the data and approving bids that are at or below the average or somewhat more costly than average.
New Deadlines No Problem
While some stakeholders have questioned whether states will be able to meet the new deadlines that NTIA has established, Hallquist was as unconcerned about that as she was about other changes.
“We never slowed down,” she said.
Noting, though, that some states put the brakes on, she said, “Those that paused will be in trouble timewise.”
A high-level view of Vermont’s situation, she said, is that “we see a way to thread our way through this.”
Those interested in learning more about how the BEAD changes will impact Vermont are invited to a webinar organized by the Vermont broadband office on Thursday, June 26 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.
Additional information about Vermont broadband, including state funding resources, awards made, BEAD news, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, and more can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
Updated to state that neither SpaceX nor Amazon applied for BEAD funding in Vermont
