Cable Hoping to Prevent BEAD-Funded Overbuilds
Trying to ensure that broadband, equity, access and deployment program money doesn't end up paying for overbuilding of existing broadband networks is a big cable priority, industry and company officials told us. ACA Connects' advocacy, which has focused on NTIA, will increasingly turn toward states in coming weeks as they lay out their challenge processes to, and seek OK from, NTIA, said Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Mike Jacobs.
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Some states, meanwhile, are concerned they could be at a competitive disadvantage to others when BEAD money gets divvied up. Jade Piros de Carvalho, director-Office of Broadband Development, Kansas Department of Commerce, told us states with their own broadband maps could be better positioned to challenge the FCC's, which in turn could mean more BEAD funding for them. Rural states often don't have the resources to create their own maps, so they're less able to mount challenges, she said. Yet they are potentially the states that most need to do so, with lots of high-cost areas and areas lacking service, she said. She said the FCC's latest broadband map is a substantial improvement in terms of accuracy, but there remain areas that need improvement.
Piros de Carvalho said Kansas is doing a social media push and outreach effort to counties and communities, trying to drive them and residents to go through the FCC website and do challenges themselves. She said some other states are doing likewise.
Avoiding BEAD-funded overbuilds "is a huge priority," Jacobs said. In a letter to NTIA head Alan Davidson in October, ACA said its members were overbuilt by Broadband Infrastructure Program and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grants, due to flawed broadband mapping data. It urged NTIA, as it looks at states' individual challenge processes, to require that project applicants certify proposed service area locations based on FCC broadband maps, mandate that states and territories give a reasonable time to submit a challenge and that the challenge include baseline data that a location is in fact served.
The process of challenging the FCC's broadband maps, by being open to not just institutional filers but individual consumers, could mean "a lot of defense that needs to be played" by incumbent network operators such as cable, Jacobs said. What the volume of challenges will be isn't clear, he said.
“In creating the BEAD program, Congress made clear that the first and foremost priority for broadband infrastructure funding is to build networks where they currently don’t exist," NCTA emailed. "We fully expect state broadband offices to follow this guidance so we can be successful in accomplishing our shared goal of closing remaining digital gaps. With cable broadband providers already operating networks that support 1 gigabit service to over 80% of American homes, our industry is well positioned to extend its broadband platform and help the country use resources efficiently and get all Americans connected to modern internet networks. Our industry will work closely with state broadband officials to verify the truly unserved areas and develop plans for getting these communities connected.”
House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., raised concerns earlier this year with Commerce about the possibility of BEAD-funded overbuilding.
In each of its cable markets, TDS Telecom offers broadband speeds well over 100/20 Mbps, so none should be eligible for BEAD money, said Drew Petersen, senior vice president-corporate affairs. In its wireline footprint, it offers 1 Gb speeds in some areas but speeds of less than 100/20 or even 25/3 in particularly rural areas, he said. Those areas are an opportunity for it to seek federal dollars to pay for enhanced service, he said.
With overbuilds "a big concern," it's incumbent on providers to be aggressive in populating the FCC maps with accurate data, Petersen said. Attention also needs to be paid to what other providers say they're serving and be aggressive in challenging seemingly faulty claims, he said.
For multistate operators like TDS, a big challenge is going to be dealing with the flurry of activity reviewing and sometimes challenging the applications expected to be filed next year by providers in numerous states almost simultaneously, Petersen said. He said TDS has hired more than two dozen staffers to work on service address availability reviews.