The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program requires states to "rigorously explore ways” to cover the cost of advanced telecommunications infrastructure builds eligible for BEAD subsidies with other sources of funding. BEAD also charged states with developing strategies to ensure universal access as part of their required Five-Year Action Plans due this year.
"The reality is, if we're going to connect every American, including the tens of millions of Americans who now don't have the internet, we're going to have to lay fiber all across this country,” said U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, whose department oversees the NTIA and BEAD. While the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 appropriates $42.5 billion for advanced telecommunications infrastructure, it won’t achieve this alone. As BEAD guidance notes, states and regions within them are going to have to come up with additional funding strategies such as long term bonds to cover the capital construction costs and potentially initial operating costs of publicly owned fiber in order to ensure universal, affordable access and further digital equity. Publicly owned fiber is particularly needed given the reduced likelihood private, investor owned providers will be able to profitably offer service affordable to lower income households.
States will also have to gain the cooperation of local governments to ease permitting of advanced telecommunications infrastructure. “Eligible Entities and their political subdivisions are strongly encouraged to remove time and cost barriers associated with BEAD projects, including by expediting permitting timelines and waiving fees where applicable, where doing so does not undermine other critical policy goals,” the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) states.
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