Feds ‘pleasantly surprised’ by new round of BEAD proposals

States are on track in submitting and finalizing their plans on how to spend their share of $42 billion meant to expand internet access, the federal official in charge of the program said this week.

Arielle Roth, the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, said she is “pleasantly surprised” at the progress states are making on their revised final plans for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

The new plans came after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced various “critical reforms” to the BEAD program in June, which left states scrambling to revamp their plans to make them comply. Roth said 43 states and territories have submitted their final plans for NTIA review and curing, where they tweak various aspects to ensure further compliance.

Roth said under those final proposals, savings to the taxpayer will be around $15 billion, partly due to funding from other grant programs and investment from internet service providers, although it is still unclear what will happen to the left-over money.

“Before, it wasn't clear whether there would be enough money to connect everyone,” Roth said on stage at the SCTE TechExpo conference in Washington, D.C. this week. “Seeing these results of increased participation, lower per location costs, and fewer locations to serve, as a result of the private sector stepping up over the past few years, I think we're really going to see some tremendous success over the next months.”

Roth also reiterated her criticism of former President Joe Biden’s administration and their administering of the BEAD program. Her predecessors “took their eye off the prize,” she said, and efforts to include provisions on climate change, labor, rate regulation and a technology preference for fiber “detracted from that goal of bringing connectivity to all Americans.” Roth said she is focused on the “core mission of universal connectivity.”

The NTIA has come under fire of late for adding an additional bidding round to what they have determined would be the most expensive locations to connect. The agency rejected those claims in a recent fact sheet and said it would prevent awarding what it deems “excessively high cost areas to one particular technology.” Roth said on stage the extra steps are important for the agency to be good stewards of tax dollars.

“We wouldn't be doing our due diligence if we didn't look under the hood and ensure that Americans aren't on the hook for costs that would be unreasonable,” she said. “And it's also important, because when you overspend on a particular technology that doesn't make sense for that area, that can have a distortionary impact.”

Plenty of work lies ahead for states, even as they finalize and submit their plans and start to prepare to build out broadband projects. But several state broadband leaders said they are on the right path.

Jessica Simmons, Georgia’s deputy state chief information officer and executive director of the Georgia Broadband Program, said during a panel discussion that, of the $1.3 billion allocated to the state, it is on track to only spend around $310 million and has bids for all 120,000 of its eligible unserved locations. Similarly, Meghan Sandfoss, Kentucky’s executive director of broadband development, said the state will only use around a third of its $1.1 billion allocation to serve its 87,000 eligible locations.

Minnesota’s Executive Director of Broadband Development Bree Maki noted that the state received bids to serve 52,000 of its 76,000 eligible locations. Leftover money remains a key point of intrigue, however. Sandfoss said states are all “wondering what’s next for the remaining funds,” and hopeful of getting projects moving through the complex permitting process.

“I think the harder part for us is the stuff that we can't control: the pole attachments, railroad crossings, those kinds of issues that aren't as cut and dry as getting a state agency to approve a historic preservation review,” she said.

There are indications that the federal government wants to make permitting easier, especially through what can be arduous and yearslong project reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. Maki said Minnesota’s broadband office has hired an archaeologist to help with the latter.

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously this week to take comment on ways it can streamline the deployment of wireless towers and infrastructure for wired connections. Agency officials said that state and local regulations “inhibit the installation and modernization” of networks, something that must change.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr said on stage at SCTE TechExpo that “it can still take too long and cost too much” to build, and permitting reform is required. He said the agency is already looking at “shot clocks” that place time limits on permit decisions, and “reasonable limits” on those decisions too. 

“It’s the only way you can plan these billion-dollar investments,” Carr said.

Roth agreed, and urged states to have a “positive regulatory environment,” which also will help providers avoid defaulting on their build-out promises through additional permitting and compliance costs.

“The priority isn't just about getting money out the door, but it's getting deployment expedited,” she said. “We need to make sure we're also keeping an eye on the ultimate prize, which is getting networks deployed as quickly as possible.”