Yesterday, the Office of Broadband Development presented to MN House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee. Today they presented to MN Senate Committee on Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development. You download the slides, which are the same as yesterday. In fact what I really wanted to track today was the questions from attendees.

Questions:

Last year we talked about low density versus Border to Border match. Does the balance seem right?
It seems like we will get more low density proposals.

Were digital equity planning strategy meetings held in areas in greatest need?
These are sites where we did listening sessions.

There are locations in urban areas without broadband – how do you define unserved?
Unserved are homes that can’t access 25/3. We serve urban, suburban and rural areas. It’s a good time to be prepared for the challenge process of BEAD funding.

Is there a deadline when money needs to be spent?
For BEAD – all locations must be shown served during subgrantee process. Once that’s approved we’ll get deadlines – maybe 4-5 years. We are aiming for 2 years at OBD.

How can people apply for line extension grants?
There will be rolling applications.

Is there an ongoing construction compliance happening now?
BEAD dollars are separate from Border to Border dollars. BEAD dollars won’t be released until getting federal approval.