Panelists Raise Some Remaining Concerns Ahead of BEAD

Broadband experts highlighted the status of current risks facing the rollout of NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program and efforts underway by industry, during a Broadband Breakfast panel Wednesday in Orlando after the Fiber Broadband Association's annual conference. Some cited the need to use data to make long-term, sustainable investments in future projects.

Panelists noted the importance of planning ahead for projects that may include make-ready work or pole attachments. Industry doesn't have a "perfect solution" now, said Render Networks Chief Marketing Officer Alicia Kearns, but "there's ways that people think about it in terms of getting ahead of the curve" by ordering materials far in advance. The upcoming broadband deployment projects funded by the BEAD program are "going to be tough on the local municipality to keep up" and could cause delays, said A2D President-Chief Financial Officer Keith Quarles: "I think we're going to have to prepare for that."

There will likely be a focus on sustainability for infrastructure projects, Quarles said. Delivering service to an end-user "is the goal," Quarles said, and whether a carrier chooses to build fiber underground can make an "astronomical" difference in the long term. The availability of data on how many ISPs were in a given service area has also historically been a "very big problem" because "the data just wasn't there," he said.

Quarles noted there has been an "evolution of data resources" and a "much better job of identifying the nuances" to understand where providers are and the type of infrastructure that is in the area they serve. "I think that we're underestimating the role of data to enable the next phase of what we need to do," Kearns said. It's important "we harness that and make sure that it's useful and accessible, and used in the right way," she said.

Workforce and supply chain shortages remain a concern as industry gears up for the BEAD program, Kearns said. "It's shifted a little bit," she said, but "being able to access contractors that are available ... is a huge challenge." The issue is "much bigger than the technology that they're using so I think that retention is the focus." Despite the lingering supply chain shortages, "I think we'll be more prepared" for the BEAD program because "we went through this before," Quarles said. On Tuesday, NTIA announced it would grant companies a partial waiver of Build America, Buy America requirements to alleviate some concerns (see 2308220081).

"The mission is to find the people and organizations that are doing the good work" because "it's a once-in-a-lifetime era that we're entering here with broadband," said Ready.net Director-Public Sector Partnerships Craig Corbon. "The goal is that every penny of every dollar is spent the right way," Corbon said, adding it's challenging, but the company is focused on being a "force multiplier" for other companies that may be understaffed and getting through the workload needed to prepare for BEAD.

Another major issue that remains for the BEAD program is the letter of credit requirement, Quarles noted: "That's also a big one that we're trying to solve." It's a "limiting factor" because it "eliminates the ability for new entrants" and small or mid-sized companies to "get the type of investment that's needed," he said: "There's a mismatch."