Broadband Matters Aug 14 2024: OBD Updates on challenge process and Digital Opportunity webinars

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From the Office of Broadband Development…

Broadband Matters: Office of Broadband Development Updates

  • BEAD Challenge, resources + updates
  • Digital Opportunity update
  • Governor’s Task Force on Broadband to meet Monday, August 19th
  • OBD, out of office!

BEAD Challenge, resources + updates

The BEAD Challenge Portal is open and accepting challenges until August 21st. Visit the OBD BEAD webpage for more information on using the portal, submitting a challenge, and recordings from BEAD Challenge Weekly Office hours with AppGeo walkthroughs of the portal.

OBD strongly recommends eligible challengers submit their challenges ahead of the August 21st deadline and not wait until the end of the 30-day challenge window. This allows for more time to submit additional evidence in case your Challenge is rejected as incomplete.

Register for the next BEAD Challenge weekly office hours, Thursday August 15th at 2pm here. Office hours will include updates on the Challenge process and a time for Q+A from eligible challenges and community members.

Reminders and additional resources on the OBD webpage:

  • Residents and businesses should only do speed tests in the BEAD Challenge Portal if their location shows as served and they subscribe to service of at least 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload and do not get those speeds when they do a speed test. The speed tests are then used to challenge your location as erroneously being listed as served. If your location already shows as unserved, there is no reason to do a speed test as there is nothing to challenge. Valid speed tests will then be submitted as BEAD Challenges by the non-profit Connected Nation. (Under NTIA requirements, only providers, non-profits, local and Tribal governments are eligible to submit BEAD Challenges.)
  • The FAQ on BEAD, the Challenge Process, and Challenge Portal is live! It’s available on the webpage under “Additional Resources”, or as a downloadable PDF, found here: mn.gov/deed/programs-services/broadband/bead/faq/

Digital Opportunity Update

NTIA has announced a webinar series for potential Digital Equity Competitive Grant applicants to learn more about preparing a successful application. Recordings and slide decks are also made available following each:

At this time, OBD’s application for the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant is still under federal review. Updates on its status will continue to be shared through our biweekly e-blasts and posted under the “Latest Updates” tab of OBD’s Digital Opportunity webpage.

Governor’s Task Force on Broadband, July meeting recap

The Task Force will meet in Mountain Iron, MN at 10 a.m. Central Time on Monday August 19th. The meeting will have virtual as well as in-person options for attending and is being hosted at the Northeast Service Cooperative (5525 Emerald Ave, Mountain Iron, MN 55768).

More information on this and past meetings can be found on the Broadband Task Force webpage.

OBD, out of office!

In the past month, staff from OBD had the opportunity to visit sites and check on the progress of projects with Border-to-Border funding. This has included: 

  • In July, OBD staff visited sites for Arvig projects in Nowthen (Toby Sunderland, Construction Manager, pictured right), Elk River, and Clear Lake and Haven Township
  • Site visits included Mediacom projects in Escalon, Esko, Esquagama, Hibbing, and a more recent B2B project in Esquagama Lake
  • OBD with Midco staff also included trips to projects in Forest Lake, Independence, and May Township

 

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