Politico ran an article earlier this month by John Hendel that noted the slow pace of the BEAD grant program. It’s a newsworthy topic because during the current election cycle I’ve heard Democrats mention fixing rural broadband as one of their accomplishments.
There is one paragraph in that article that instantly caught my eye. The government is executing BEAD “on the 10-year timeline Congress intended,” a spokesperson for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department agency tasked with overseeing the program, told POLITICO.
This is the first time I’ve heard that BEAD was intended to be a 10-year plan. I can recall numerous occasions during the BEAD process when the public was told that the goal was to solve rural broadband. I sat through numerous public meetings where State Broadband offices met with the public and the message was always that rural broadband is a huge problem and the goal was to start fixing it as quickly as is practical.
There were a lot of other big infrastructure programs funded by the IIJA that are moving faster than BEAD. Consider the Bridge Investment Program (BIP). This is a $40 billion program for bridge replacement, rehabilitation, preservation, and protection. The U.S. Department of Transportation started to accept BIP grant applications in December 2023. That’s roughly a year faster than BEAD. There are many other examples of spending that have already been made from the same infrastructure legislation.
I have a hard time believing that it’s faster and easier create the engineering studies needed to build or fix a bridge than it is to design a broadband network. Any local government that applied for a BIP bridge grant will already have done the detailed engineering analysis needed to quantify the amount of grant needed.
Unfortunately, BEAD is almost turning into a 10-year program. States will be making BEAD awards starting sometime in 2025. A State can’t make a grant award until they find an ISP to serve every unserved and underserved location and also gotten NTIA approval for the full pile of awards. I don’t expect more than perhaps a few token customers to be connected to a BEAD-constructed network in 2025. ISPs will have up to four years after grant contracts have been signed. This means that if everything works as planned, some BEAD projects won’t be completed until sometime in 2029 – the eighth year after the BEAD program was created by Congress.
There would have been a huge outcry inside the industry and from the rural politicians if NTIA had formally announced years ago that BEAD was intended to be a 10-year grant program. There have been countless opportunities for NTIA to have made this claim, and it is only now arising in a quote given to a reporter from a political site. We can’t know who provided the quote to Politco, but if this is an official line, then NTIA is throwing up a smoke screen to cover for the slowness of the program. It’s disappointing to know that a rural household without good broadband will see a student who was in the sixth grade when BEAD was announced graduate from high school without seeing any improvement from the BEAD program.
“This is the first time I’ve heard that BEAD was intended to be a 10-year plan.”
That timeline is inconsistent with the BEAD program requirement that states develop “5 year plans” for universal service.
“I have a hard time believing that it’s faster and easier create the engineering studies needed to build or fix a bridge than it is to design a broadband network.”
It’s faster because there’s less tension over whether the infrastructure is publicly or privately owned. It’s usually the former. Also bridges are hard infrastructure. They are not defined by how fast vehicles can travel across them.
I figured it would take that long. This is going to be a perfectly executed example of why the government can’t be part of the buildout process.
They could have gone with a subsidization model per address and providers would be climbing over each other to service areas.
Doug, you are quite right about the politics and messaging, and you have the timeline right. I will note, however, that it has been clear from the time the law was passed in late 2021 that we would be on this timeline. Just following the steps and time frames in the statutory process yielded a rough timeline from the outset of:
2022: Selection of State Entities, Planning & Outreach
2023: Release of FCC Map & Challenge Process
2024: Approval of State Proposals & Awards to Subgrantees
2025: Funding & Beginning of Deployment
2029-30: End of Scheduled Deployment Phase (which will be extended in some cases).
As you note, that is not what was said at the time, but it is what was required, even then. It is evident that the two-step process of federal implementation followed by state-by-state implementation added at least a year (and probably more) compared to other infrastructure programs.
Although nobody is talking about it now, it is also clear that at least some of the BEAD projects will require full-blown Environmental Impact studies, which historically have averaged about 4 years across all federal agencies. It seems likely that this could make the completion of the final projects stretch into the 2030s.
I wouldn’t say environmental studdies will be a common hurdle because most projects are built in the ROW and there are no environmental studies required for that.
Very little of this money will go anywhere but in the ROW, even in rural areas. I’m sure you can find a couple if you dig hard enough but off thie hip i’d guess it’s <1%.
There you go using common sense. Federal rules say that any infrastructure funded by federal funds should have an environmental study, so it all boils down to how much the NTIA and states want to stick to the rules.
Believe rules will require all BEAD projects, even those built entirely in existing utility corridors and ROWs, to either a) submit preliminary environmental and historical review to fit within NTIA-adopted categorical exclusions (CATEX), or
b) to conduct an entire environmental impact study if the project does not fit within the CATEX. One of the adopted CATEX is if less than 20% of poles need to be replaced for an aerial build. In most rural areas, the pole replacement % will be much higher than 20% unless you can build up by the neutral using ADSS.
Re the BEAD state Five Year Plans, having reviewed some, I noted that five year period is set to begin in 2024-2025. Some cited BEAD program goal to attain universal service by 2029.
When you add in the time for environmental and historic preservation reviews, suspect start of deployment delayed to 2026 or even 2027.
Great read. Unsurprising, NTIA is covering their backside regardless of the election outcome.
The 10-year period noted above is probably a reference to the federal interest period.
Federal Interest Period
a. BEAD-Funded Broadband Infrastructure Projects: The Federal interest in all real property or equipment acquired or improved as part of a subgrant for which the major purpose is a broadband infrastructure project will continue for ten years after the year in which that subgrant has been closed out in accordance with 2 CFR 200.344. For example, for all subgrants closed out in 2027, regardless of the month, the Federal interest will last until December 31, 2037. The Federal interest described herein applies to BEAD subgrants for which the major purpose of the subgrant, as defined in Term 46, is a broadband infrastructure project(s).
b. The Grants Officer, in consultation with the Program Office, shall determine the Federal Interest Period for real property or equipment that will be acquired or improved using BEAD funds and not captured in provision (a) of this Term. NTIA will issue further implementation guidance regarding the Federal Interest Period for these BEAD assets. https://broadbandusa.ntia.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/BEAD_IPFR_GTC_04_2024.pdf
This is also the period of time subgrantees must offer a low-cost broadband service option.