BIAS Seen Struggling Through Maze of Distinct Grant Programs
Multistate broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers are facing challenges navigating the federal and state grant processes for the growing array of digital divide grant and subsidy programs, though some foresee that forest getting easier to navigate. We were told the complexity of applications could put a chill on the number of providers applying. Sizable attention will be paid to how detailed the NTIA guidance is on the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program established by the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), they said.
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Smaller ACA Connects members "have found it challenging" to apply in multiple jurisdictions or states because of the different application processes requiring different information and different evaluation criteria, said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman. He said even larger ACA members often don't have the teams needed to tackle novel state programs. "It's time consuming to collect the data, provide the engineering reports, whatever may be required," he said. That could disincentivize BIAS participation in some programs, especially as the possibility of states having coinciding deadlines could mean providers have to pick and choose, he said.
NTIA's forthcoming BEAD notice of funding opportunity, which is expected to be issued Monday, may lead to more uniformity among state programs as BEAD is more prescriptive than past federal spending on broadband in how it works and what states must do, Lieberman said. The NOFO should provide some definitions of unserved and underserved, and lay a floor for rules and requirements for state programs, he said. NTIA likely will allow states some personalization of rules, he said.
TDS Telecommunications "has participated in a number of state and federal broadband grant programs, with each program having its own unique set of guidelines, scoring systems, challenge processes and compliance requirements, which makes wide-spread participation more challenging," emailed Joel Dohmeier, director-government and regulatory affairs. "TDS firmly believes the more uniform those requirements are for BEAD funding, the greater the opportunity for multi-state broadband providers to successfully participate to the fullest extent possible and get fiber to those in need.”
The plethora of different application processes and terms for the different programs "is not unexpected when you have historic amounts of broadband funding out in the marketplace administered by a whole host of different entities," said Claude Aiken, Nextlink chief strategy and legal officer. Noting the county-level funding of the American Rescue Plan, he said counties often have different needs and different levels of sophistication from one another on broadband funding, yet providers have to go county by county to see what the needs are and how to apply. Some states still are staffing up their broadband offices, meaning they might not have a body at the state level with expertise and authority over funding, he said.
Providers have to be willing to devote sizable resources in staff time to look for funding and grapple with requirements, Aiken said. A lot of providers are "taking a hard look and seeing if that juice is really worth the squeeze" of people hours, he said.
"Every single state and community has got a different process. Not every cat looks alike," Altice CEO Dexter Goei told analysts last month (see 2204290029). He said Altice is working on applications for subsidy programs across its 21 states. "There are twists and turns in every single one of these," he said. In some cases, there might be a request for proposals for 20,000 homes that then gets amended to 5,000 homes, with the other 15,000 backburnered. "It's really a lot of back-door politics in terms of how to allocate money locally into something called infrastructure," he said.
Those efforts are "starting to get quite organized today," compared with relative disorganization in the back half of 2021, Goei said. Altice has "a ton of applications that are pending, but the decision-making process takes a very long time. And really just every single process is different." He said the grant programs generally expect deployment within two to three years of award.
Numerous organizations pushed NTIA for clarity on IIJA programs, in comments early this year. Wireless Infrastructure Association said grantees need flexibility to use the funds "as they best see fit" for their unique needs, but NTIA "must also provide clear guidelines on how to implement competitive application processes that attract the best candidates for federal funds." The National Governors Association also urged flexibility in using IIJA funds and asked for "immediate clarity in allowable uses and clear criteria when evaluating state and territorial infrastructure proposals." "The Administration should clearly communicate what criteria will be used when evaluating specific projects that require federal approval and should elevate projects supported by state and territorial governments," NGA said. The ACAM Broadband Coalition said NTIA's state guidelines for BEAD funding should be "consistent with other federal broadband initiatives" including the FCC's high-cost universal service programs.