The list of providers who had applied for BEAD rep-qualification and bee approved is now out. It is interesting to see who is on the list and who is not. The list came out late yesterday. The Office of Broadband Development is hosting their Office Hours today at 11am, where I’m sure they will be willing to take questions. (The hold Office Hours weekly.)

1. Ace Telephone Association
2. AMG Technology Investment Group, LLC d/b/a Nextlink Internet
3. Christensen Communications Company
4. Consolidated Communications
5. CTC
6. EarthLink
7. East Central Energy Fiber
8. Emily Cooperative Telephone Company
9. Federated Rural Electric Association
10. Frontier
11. Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Company
12. Hanson Communication
13. Harmony Telephone Company
14. IBT Group USA, LLC
15. Johnson Telephone Company
16. KMTelecom
17. MCC Broadband Data
18. Meeker Cooperative Light & Power Association
19. Midco
20. MiEnergy
21. Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative
22. Nuvera
23. Otter Tail Telcom
24. PAUL BUNYAN COMMUNICATIONS
25. PCs for People
26. Red River Communications
27. Runestone Telephone Association
28. SCI Broadband
29. Sjobergs
30. Spectrum Mid-America, LLC
31. Sytek
32. Tekstar Communications, Inc.
33. Wikstrom Telephone Company Inc
34. Windstream Lakedale, Inc.
35. Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association
36. Woodstock Communications
37. Xfinity

Here’s more on pre-qualification from the Office of Broadband Development’s BEAD Pre-Qualification Guidance Document…

Before undertaking a subgrantee selection process and awarding BEAD funds, the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development must pre-qualify all prospective applicants to ensure they meet the minimum requirements for subgrantee eligibility. This document is meant to provide prospective applicants with a clear understanding of Minnesota’s BEAD Pre- Qualification process and what documentation they need to prepare.

This guide outlines procedures, requirements, and necessary steps, as outlined in Minnesota’s NTIA-approved Initial Proposal Volume 2. This guide may change with new guidance from NTIA or as the OBD receives questions from prospective applicants. Any changes made to this guide will be clearly documented in version history and communicated to prospective applicants. Further, the OBD will post all pre-qualification documentation and resources on the Minnesota Broadband website.

Please note that, as described in Minnesota’s Initial Proposal Volume 2, participating in the pre-qualification process does not bind any internet service provider to submit a project area proposal. However, all prospective applicants who are considering participation or intend to submit a proposal must participate in pre-qualification. There will only be one pre-qualification round, so prospective applicants must participate, even if they only intend to apply for BEAD funds in later rounds of subgrantee selection.

Information submitted during the pre-qualification process for an organization will make up part of the score on all proposed projects during each round of subgrantee selection. For more information about project scoring, please refer to Minnesota’s Initial Proposal Volume 2.