Politicians and analysts, alike, have bemoaned the pace of the BEAD deployments. Steven Nielsen, CEO and Director of Dycom Industries, Inc., (NYSE: DY) however, gave a more upbeat assessment of the government program during Dycom’s second quarter earnings call. Nielsen said his company, which constructs fiber optic infrastructure, expects to see work funded by BEAD in the mid- to-late-2025.
“We’ve been encouraged by the pace of BEAD approvals. The state level approvals by NTIA have picked up over the summer,” he said. “This BEAD thing is coming, these states are getting approved, and so we know that within a year, there’s going to be real activity on that plan.”
In addition to the incremental private capital, broadband deployments will benefit from public capital. The BEAD program represents an “unprecedented level” of support, which “meaningfully” increases the rural market that Dycom expects to serve.
“We are pleased that a number of our customers have entered into strategic transactions (including refinancings) intended to provide the capital necessary for the incremental deployment of fiber to more than 9.5 million homes over the next several years,” Nielsen said. “These individual transactions are currently awaiting regulatory approval, which is currently expected over the next 12 to 18 months.”
As of last week, 35 states and territories have completed all 10 approval steps as required by the NTIA while 21 others have completed 9 of the 10, according to Nielsen. To date, approximately $22 billion, or 53 percent of the program total, has received initial proposal approval, he added.
“We believe the magnitude and importance of BEAD should not be underappreciated as it addresses some of the most difficult and expensive locations to deploy in America and represents a generational deployment opportunity,” Nielsen said. “For planning purposes, we currently expect to see BEAD opportunities during the third quarter of calendar year 2025.” Along with BEAD, other state and federal programs are funding broadband deployment activity, he added.
Nielsen said he did not fear that the coming election might lead to changes in the BEAD program, because of the bipartisan nature of broadband communications. “Historically, rural fiber deployments have enjoyed support from both parties, particularly if there is a change in control with those states that are Republican,” he said.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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