Doug Dawson always has an interesting take on things, He knows the technology, he knows the policy and he spends time on the frontlines. Here’s part of his recent post on BEAD changes…

Today’s blog talks about the big disappointment being felt by elected officials in Counties all over the Country as word of the NTIA’s new rules for BEAD filters down to them.

I’ve worked across the country with dozens of Counties that committed time and resources to the BEAD process. Many Counties put a lot of effort into the map challenge process. Many Counties carefully interviewed ISPs and chose their favorites – because State BEAD grant rules told them that ISPs would get more grant points with local support. Many Counties went further and made local matching grants to ISPs to support a BEAD application. Some of these grants came out of the general coffers, but many were from ARPA funding. Unfortunately, most of those matching ARPA grants are now lost, and the money will fall to the floor.

Counties made the effort for BEAD because their constituents told them to. I have been in numerous Counties where the elected officials say that fixing broadband is the number one issue they hear about. They can’t stop and pump gas or go to the grocery store without somebody talking to them about poor broadband.

That’s all gone now. Broadband equity grants were completely killed in May. BEAD grants for fiber are all but killed. Almost every County official I talked to wanted BEAD to be used in their County to build fiber. They learned how fiber networks would be good for many decades to come, and they want broadband in rural areas that is as good as in larger towns and cities.