Officials Seek Continued Engagement on Broadband Deployment Programs

Federal officials highlighted the need for continued stakeholder engagement and strategic investments to ensure broadband deployment efforts funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are implemented efficiently, during an NTCA event Monday. USDA Rural Development Deputy Undersecretary Farah Ahmad also announced the launch of a $20 million broadband technical assistance program to assist rural development projects.

Among the projects eligible for support are "conducting feasibility studies, completing network designs and developing broadband financial assistance applications," the agency said in a news release. Funding will be made available through three categories: up to $7.5 million for awards of $50,000-$1 million for providers proposing to deliver broadband technical assistance in rural communities; up to $7.5 million for awards of $50,000-$250,000 for applicants that will be "the recipients of the broadband technical assistance"; and up to $5 million for awards of $50,000 to $1 million for projects to "support the establishment or growth of broadband cooperatives that will benefit rural communities."

It's "really exciting" because one of the biggest challenges for rural development is capacity, Ahmad said. The technical assistance program will be important because "we don't always have the tools when it comes to capacity," she said. USDA is also beginning to make awards from round four of the ReConnect program in the coming weeks and months, Ahmad said, noting the department received more than 250 applications.

NTIA is still targeting June 30 for announcing funding allocations for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program, said Deputy Assistant Secretary April McClain-Delaney. "We are eager to get this money out the door," she said, acknowledging "we also need to get this right" because the program is a "once in a generation opportunity" and states are "at different levels of maturity" on the status of their broadband offices.

The COVID-19 pandemic "put a national spotlight" on the need for access to high-speed broadband, said Treasury Department Capital Projects Fund Director Joey Wender. The department has awarded 39 states "almost $6 billion for broadband deployment" through the program, Wender said. Most funding will likely be awarded by "early fall," he said.

McClain-Delaney encouraged all stakeholders to "work together" to ensure the FCC's broadband maps are "as accurate as possible" before the BEAD allocations are announced. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr agreed: "It's pretty clear to me" that the first map wasn't perfect. "We have to close a pretty significant gap" between the initial map and the second iteration that will be used by NTIA to make accurate allocations, Carr said.

Carr emphasized the need to continue making "smart investments" in rural broadband deployment programs and evaluate potential solutions to sustain the Universal Service Fund. It would "be a mistake for BEAD funding to come in and overbuild" in areas where providers receiving Alternative Connect America Model support are already working, he said. There have also been "a lot of good results from the first 10 years" of the Alaska Plan, Carr said, so "we need to act quickly with a long-term extension." USF contribution reform requires taking a step back to pairing advocacy for the continuation of these programs with how USF is funded, he said. "We're making a significant amount of progress" toward finding a solution, Carr said, saying potential contributors could be digital advertising and streaming services.

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association members plan to meet with lawmakers Tuesday to urge Congress to continue funding ReConnect, CEO Jim Matheson said during a Monday conference call with reporters. The group is also proposing some “tweaks” to the program that could “make it more efficient.” NRECA is “hoping” lawmakers will agree to reduce the threshold percentage of households in a particular area that must be unserved to qualify for ReConnect funding from 90% to 50%-70%, said Senior Regulatory Issues Director-Broadband and Telecom Brian O’Hara.

NRECA wants lawmakers to require projects receiving ReConnect funding to be able to provide 100 Mbps upload and download speeds, O’Hara said. The group was among more than a dozen that urged the House and Senate Agriculture committees in March to include the 100 Mbps ReConnect requirement in the 2023 farm bill (see 2303140070). NRECA is lobbying for Congress to set a 100 Mbps symmetrical speed requirement for other federal broadband funding programs because that will ensure there’s “investment in assets that will have a longer future,” Matheson said. Lawmakers debated the threshold as part of IIJA, and the Treasury Department set it as the goal for recipients of money from its Capital Projects Fund where possible (see 2203310037).