WISPA – The Association for Broadband Without Boundaries, applauds how Louisiana Governor Landry made clear that “alternative technologies” such as unlicensed Fixed Wireless and low-earth orbit satellite are reliable and should be seen as partners in closing the digital divide. Louisiana is the first state to launch its BEAD process and the first to be fully approved by NTIA, Inside Towers reported.
Landry told Acting Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that NTIA must take a tech-neutral approach in the BEAD program and “reverse policy choices that skew market-driven outcomes for technology selection.” In a letter last week, Landry encouraged the agency to provide more flexibility and streamline other approval processes.
Louisiana’s example offers lessons for all subsequent state BEAD processes, notes WISPA. ConnectLA got two important things right, according to WISPA. “Number one, despite having enough money to have theoretically been able to use only fiber, they sought, in Governor Landry’s words, ‘to maximize efficient use of taxpayer dollars and ensure fit for purpose solutions statewide’ by pursuing a ‘strongly… tech neutral solution,’” according to WISPA Director of State Advocacy Steve Schwerbel. Louisiana also maintained a focus on finding cost savings that would allow the state to implement a meaningful non-deployment program with remaining BEAD funds, he notes.
Schwerbel explains, “When BEAD was first being rolled out, NTIA’s refrain was that ‘BEAD without Equity is just BAD.’ Louisiana’s BEAD program makes clear that prioritizing fiber over meeting all of BEAD’s goals represents a failure of imagination and courage, and WISPA continues to urge NTIA to send states back to the drawing board until they can demonstrate full consideration of alternative technology solutions.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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