More Work to Be Done on BEAD Following Letter of Credit Waiver: Experts
More work is still needed to ensure providers of all sizes can participate in NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program, broadband experts and industry officials said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Thursday. Panelists welcomed the agency's recent programmatic waiver regarding the BEAD program's letter of credit (LOC) requirements and sought additional action regarding performance bonds among other policies (see 2311010040).
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“I think it took a little while for it to bubble up to the to the very top of the leadership,” said Gigi Sohn, American Association for Public Broadband executive director, “but once it did, I think they realized that the letter of credit requirement was going to actually work against BEAD’s goals." The waiver is "a great start,” Sohn said, adding there is “still going to be some conversations, and I’m glad that NTIA is going to continue to look at how things are moving in the market.”
The LOC requirement “really ruled out the opportunity for smaller, nonprofit, and women or minority owned ISPs,” said Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen. “I'm very pleased with the result that we’ve achieved so far," Windhausen said. The waiver “just allows many more entities to participate that would otherwise be left on the sidelines,” said Klein Law Group Principal Philip Macres.
"The work's not over,“ said Quinn Jordan, Mississippi Broadband Association executive director. “We've got some really good alternatives that we've been able to get some crack in the door at NTIA” regarding performance bonds, Jordan said, adding the use of a performance or surety market bond ensures "due diligence" when evaluating a company looking to write a bond and their relationship with an ISP. Macres agreed and said some questions remain about how performance bonds will be issued to meet the new guidelines.
"Everybody needs to be talking to their broadband offices” to ensure each state has the flexibility to meet their specific needs, said Aristotle Unified Communications CEO Elizabeth Bowles. States have “a lot more ability to influence this process than they probably even realize,” Bowles said, agreeing with other panelists that there’s “more work to be done, particularly at the state level.” Giving states the additional flexibility “is just massive and really broadens what's going to be possible with the program,” said Calum Cameron, Connect Humanity communications manager.
"We have to be able to give our small and mid-size service providers options,” said Charles Thomas, Rural Broadband Partners' chief strategy officer: “We want to move forward and continue to give the great services that we've been given,” Thomas said, and states must “have those options that allow us to do these things.” It’s “within the states’ capacity and authority to structure a reimbursement program that would satisfy the concerns of NTIA,” Bowles said: “As a company that's looking to participate in these programs and would like to go after this funding … I would almost rather a reimbursement program.” NTIA "has opened that door" for states to move toward this model, she said.