The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is preparing to administer the bulk of the $65 billion in broadband deployment funding in the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure Law. In a Broadband Breakfast event this week, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson was upbeat about progress with the $1 billion middle mile program, a component of the law.
While the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) is the largest broadband deployment funding in the Infrastructure Law, money for the $1 billion middle mile program may be allocated first, according to Davidson. That’s because the middle mile program is not dependent on completion of the FCC broadband mapping project as the BEAD is, notes Telecompetitor.
“We anticipate that program moving forward pretty fast,” Davidson said of the middle mile program. Noting that middle mile projects can enable last-mile projects such as those to be funded through the BEAD program, Davidson said, “the sequencing is quite lucky for us.”
NTIA cannot determine how much BEAD funding each state will receive until the FCC completes its broadband mapping project. Inside Towers reported the agency expects to have the project completed later this year. The maps will determine the number of unserved locations in each state, which in turn will determine funding for the state. Davidson has said previously that NTIA is hiring people to answer questions about funding for each state.
NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for the BEAD program is due in May. Questions that need to be addressed include how to define the low-cost broadband option that providers are required to offer, as well as requirements for consultation with local stakeholders, Davidson said.
The act also states that broadband at speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps must be made available to all unserved locations in a state (defined as those lacking broadband at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps) before money can go toward bringing underserved areas lacking service at speeds above 100/20 Mbps up to that level.
This raises the question of how states should treat project areas that include both unserved and underserved locations. Davidson said the ultimate and “ambitious” goal of the BEAD program is to get everyone in the U.S. to have access to 100/20 Mbps service, notes Telecompetitor.
The requirement for network operators to contribute 25 percent of a BEAD project’s cost is a floor, not a ceiling, according to Davidson. An individual state could require network operators to contribute more than 25 percent of project costs, he said. This may be reasonable, Davidson said, considering that much of the funding won in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction is slated to go to companies that are committed to covering 50 percent or more of project costs.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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