Last week, I attended the MN Office of Broadband Development BEAD Challenge Information Session in New Ulm. Today I attended the same session online – mostly to hear the questions and answers from other attendees. (The videos below include the Q&A and presentation from Tom Karst’s section on the NTIA.)

Some highlights from session today:

• The MN Map that will be used in the challenge process is available online!
• OBD will be hosting online office hours weekly. It would be a good place to learn more about the map.
• The challenge process will last one month, starting July 21. Any provider that might refute the challenge has 30 days to respond once a challenge is shared.

Below is edited chat; I tried to remove names and duplications from the cut-paste transfer from the Teams meeting:

10:25 AM Will speed tests required by the HH or Bus require simply 3 speed tests from the location or will additional information be required to make the speed tests eligible for challenge of a ISP’s reported service

10:27 AM Where will the Federal/State deduplicated data set .CSV be released that will need to be joined to the fabric? Is it already available? Many States have made this public and downloadable others have had it available per request. Thanks!

10:24 AM I understand that this meeting is about the Challenge Process. I am wondering when the information for MN Digital Equity Funding will be available and will we apply to DEED or to NTIA or both or different types of applications. If we will need to also apply to NTIA, is the website for that applic…

Thank you for the question, Deb! Questions on the MN Digital Equity funding will be best directed to the OBD Digital Equity Program Lead, Hannah Buckland. Hannah can be reached by email here: hannah.buckland@state.mn.us

10:30 AM What is the technology code that is used for cellular service in the FCC BDC?

10:37 AM where do residents/businesses find the “Broadband Navigator”?

10:37 AM  – 70, 71, and 72 (fixed unlicensed, fixed licensed, and fixed licensed-by-rule respectively). Begin Reference, where do residents/busines…

where do residents/businesses find the “Broadband Navigator”? This was just posted to the OBD website earlier today, but the direct link is here: https://mn.broadbandnavigator.com/

10:44 AM Where can we locate the unserved/underserved CSVs? Will providers receive challenges to their …

10:44 AM Will providers receive challenges to their coverage areas as they are submitted, or will they all be received at the end of the challenged window? Will challenges be allowed that do not affe…

10:45 AM Will challenges be allowed that do not affect BEAD eligibility? Like a challenge to DSL service. Begin Reference, Where can we locate the un…

10:44 AM Where can we locate the unserved/underserved CSVs?

10:45 AM We are aiming to get these on the OBD website by end of day tomorrow: https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/bead/

10:46 AM Will it be posted under Additional Resources? Yes – that is our plan!

10:47 AM Is their clarification from NTIA on the low cost offering requirement or still under discussion?

10:48 AM Can you please confirm which NTIA fabric was used?

10:49 AM Can you put the email address up again?

10:50 AM the “tiny” isn’t on here)

10:50 AM Will the slides from this presentation be posted/available?

10:50 AM Does the state allow bulk uploads of Location IDs for all challenge types, including CAIs?

10:52 AM Can you clarify, 30 days to rebut once the rebuttal starts, or from when the provider receives the challenge on the rolling basis? Begin Reference,

10:50 AM Will the slides from this presentation be posted/available? The slides will be posted! I’ll also upload them to the chat here at the end of the presentation!

10:37 AM – 70, 71, and 72 (fixed unlicensed, fixed licensed, and fixed licensed-by-rule respectively). Is there a distinction for code 70, 71 or 72 when it is provided via cellular provider rather than LFW provider, that was my question.

10:55 AM My understanding is that “legally binding agreements” cannot be created technically between a tribe and a provider? Tribes cannot enforce coops or providers to complete broadband projects under their State/Federal grant agreements. We can do letters of support or Tribal Resolutions…but my understanding is it is not possible to create a legal/enforceable document that could be upheld

10:56 AM Many of the resources mentioned today (Challenge Portal, posted Volumes, subscribing to the OBD biweekly email blast, etc.) are available on the OBD webpage here: https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/bead/ Register for the first session of BEAD weekly office hours hosted by OBD here, Thursday July 18th at 2pm: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/019d3283-c11a-434f-ac57-b30b67092861@eb14b046-24c4-4519-8f26-b89c2159828c Tom Karst, NTIA contact: Link TKarst@NTIA…. by Unknown User Norcutt Preuss, Anna (She/Her/Hers) (DEED) (Unverified)

10:59 AM Tom Karst, NTIA contact: TKarst@NTIA.gov thanks!

11:03 AM For any project areas that don’t receive BEAD applications by ISP’s what coverage solutions will MN DEED explore? What CostQuest license does the state have? by Unknown User Guest

11:04 AM What CostQuest license does the state have?