NTIA Faces Challenge With BEAD: Panel

NTIA faces several challenges as it prepares to administer more than $48 billion dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, panelists said during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday (see 2111240021). It’s “possible” that NTIA will include metrics on latency, said Corning Manager-Federal Government Affairs Jordan Gross. The agency is looking to find metrics, based on the questions it asked in its request for comment due Feb. 4, Gross said.

NTIA has “incredible discretion” about setting requirements, said Kelley Drye's Tom Cohen, and the agency will be “overwhelmed” with comments because there’s “too much at stake.” It’s “a lot to chew on,” he said. Establishing what a low-cost broadband option is while recognizing “the real speed chasm differences amongst the mediums” will be a “big challenge” for NTIA as it launches its broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Legislative Council Ernesto Falcon. The new broadband funding is “generous,” Falcon said, but it “may not be enough on its own without some creative thinking and some new models.”

NTIA will have to start setting guidelines on what's acceptable latency and explain the “impacts on different services and applications,” Falcon said. It’s “incumbent upon the NTIA to set and make clear predictions about what usage is going” in terms of growth and needs, Falcon said, noting fiber is a “central component” to meeting future demands. The FCC’s $14.2 billion affordable connectivity program will also “enable some amazing things if the government can bring all the various interests in the public service model together,” he said.

NTIA “needs to strike a balance” between moving swiftly and getting things right in the BEAD program, said Fiber Broadband Association Public Policy Committee co-Chair Ariane Schaffer of Google Fiber. A notice of funding opportunity is anticipated around May, Schaffer said, with an anticipated deadline being early Q3 to receive up to $5 million for early-stage planning. States’ initial proposals and five-year action plans may be due around Q4 to receive 20% of total funding allocated, and the deadline for final proposals may be Q2 of 2023 to receive the remaining funds, she said.

The agency is “trying to give a lot of thought” about interagency cooperation, said NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry Affairs Mike Romano. “The mapping question here is going to be critical,” Romano said, noting NTIA will rely on FCC maps for funding awards. Cohen said new maps could come by the end of Q3. The maps are “critical” for initial proposals because using one map will give states an equal playing field, he said.

The middle mile program is more of a traditional NTIA program and not connected to the BEAD program, Cohen said. It’s also not tied to the FCC’s maps, Gross said. Other programs, like the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I, will be delineated and not used as matching funds for the new programs, Romano said. If RDOF or other USF funding has been committed to a certain area, it will be deemed served and will be sorted out in NTIA’s final definition of underserved or unserved areas, Cohen said.

Some House Republicans “still have their doubts” about how this program will work, said Perry Bayliss’ Kim Bayliss. Members who voted against the infrastructure law may start questioning whether the funding was necessary, said Perry Bayliss’ Steve Perry. “It’s going to be a challenge for states,” Bayliss said.