Applicants seeking a speedy 90-day guide to receiving your BEAD funding should beware: this is not that guide.As far as BEAD is concerned, 90 days just won’t cut it, and such a timeline would expose applicants to two elements that are usually avoided at all costs:&nbsp;enormous cost and&nbsp;enormous risk.&nbsp;These elements exist as a result of several factors, including guidelines and timelines that vary state by state based on requirements set by the&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/national-telecommunications-and-information-administration">NTIA</a>.&nbsp;That’s according to Lori Adams, vice president of broadband policy and funding strategy for Nokia, who has written a three-part series diving into building&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telecompetitor.com/partnering-for-bead-success/">effective partnerships for BEAD success</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telecompetitor.com/moving-up-the-timeline-for-procurements-for-bead/">navigating procurement timelines</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telecompetitor.com/understanding-the-complexities-of-buy-american-vs-build-america-buy-america/">Buy America, Build America</a>.&nbsp;Her advice to applicants is plain and simple: “If you’re going to wait until the state’s application is made public, you’re going to be toast.”&nbsp;“BEAD is unlike any other federal program for broadband that has ever existed,” Adams said. “It’s the enormous costs for each component of the application and time consuming activities required before the application is even submitted.”<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Diagram_15cc1cf873/Diagram_15cc1cf873.png"></figure>As states are undergoing their processes for defining their project areas, applicants can get ahead by taking the following steps:&nbsp;<h2>Discover your state’s application requirements as set out in Volume I and II initial proposals&nbsp;</h2>Applicants should be sure to familiarize themselves with the Volume I and II initial proposals submitted by their state broadband offices. This, more specifically, means becoming familiar with the application requirements that each state has set in these proposals.&nbsp;Colorado, for example, has five pages of pre-qualification requirements for BEAD applicants,&nbsp;<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Um_uLrR7IjTcdMbsOdW3QvrNxsskLxnl/view">as outlined in its Volume II initial proposal</a>. Louisiana, for instance,&nbsp;<a href="https://connect.la.gov/media/3gylvrgc/bead-vol-2-final.pdf">has established an extensive pre-qualification process</a> that applicants must complete before even being eligible for the full application process.“There’s commonalities, like each state has a scoring criteria and a process for pre-qualification, but the nuances of each of these vary dramatically state-by-state,” Adams said.&nbsp;<h2>Build relationships with a certified PE, or Professional Engineer, and CPA, or Certified Public Accountant&nbsp;</h2>Applicants will be required to hire both PEs and CPAs, in order to complete the BEAD process, which adds to overall costs but will add additional time to the process.BEAD requires that applicants submit financial audits completed by CPAs to ensure that financial obligations of undertaking the project can be met. PEs, additionally, will be required to submit certification that proposed designs are structurally sound and within budget.&nbsp;It’s also a great time to familiarize yourself with alternative sources of funding, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/everything-broadband-pros-need-to-know-about-performance-bonds">performance bonds</a>.&nbsp; “The PE requirement alone is going to be a barrier to people and they’re not going to realize it,” Adams said. “Most times, you don’t need a PE certification until after the award and this will be a challenge because PEs traditionally don’t sign off on projects until after they’ve developed it.”&nbsp;As a result, applicants are going to need to build a relationship with a PE who can familiarize themselves with the design process enough to be willing to sign off on it.&nbsp;“You’re looking at a one to two-month process for the PE component alone,” Adams said.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Quote_1_d98c216408/Quote_1_d98c216408.png"></figure><h2>Begin your local stakeholder engagement journey&nbsp;</h2>Applicants, much like state broadband offices, have specific requirements for&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/a-fool-proof-recipe-for-stakeholder-engagement">stakeholder engagement</a>. These include gathering letters of support and gathering insights from ongoing challenge processes to see how states are defining project areas, such as by county or census block.&nbsp;This is incredibly crucial as states seek input about the current providers from local communities to ensure that the applicant that best serves the communities’ needs can be competitive in the process.&nbsp;“If you’ve been going through the challenge process, you have a pretty strong sense of how these areas are defined and can perform some guesstimation to figure out your next steps,” Adams said.&nbsp;Taking this steps solidifies the enormous opportunity that applicants have ahead of them to shape the course of America’s history with broadband as crucial players in the country’s largest (and likely, last) major broadband infrastructure investment. It’s too much risk to allow it to pass by.

If you're waiting for your state's application, you'll be too late.

Discover your state’s application requirements as set out in Volume I and II initial proposals and build relationships with a certified PE, or Professional Engineer, and a CPA, or Certified Public Accountant.

How to complete your BEAD application quickly? You can’t.

Waiting could mean missing out on millions

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The best time to start your BEAD applications is today

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Think you can complete your BEAD application in 90 days? Think again.

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Broadband.money

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Montana on January 8, 2024, joined a small list of states that have kicked off their broadband challenge process.The state joins Louisiana, Virginia, Kansas and Colorado as this first group of five states that have also already started the process under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grant program for broadband infrastructure.States are able to kick off the process after approval, by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, of the state’s Volume 1 initial proposal. That <a href="https://ready.net/blog/congratulations-to-delaware-and-montana-for-ntia-approval" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">was announced on January 2</a>.The eligibility rules for the challenge are determined by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s BEAD program, and Montana’s state challenge process is designed to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to challenge the eligibility of locations for funding.Challengers can dispute the data sourced from the National Broadband Map by using relevant and allowable evidence.Here is the timeline that Montana said it is following for the challenge process:<ul><li>January 8, 2024- <a href="https://connectmt.mt.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Post challenge materials</a>, including deduplicated list of locations</li><li>January 12, 2024- Host Deep Dive Challenge Process Webinar</li><li>January 15, 2024- Officially open Portal</li><li>January 26, 2024- Challenge Process Office Hours</li><li>February 14, 2024- Challenge Phase Closes</li></ul>Montana was allocated $628 million in June 2023 as part of the NTIA’s allocation of $42.5 billion in BEAD funds.&nbsp;

The big sky state joins a small list of eligible entities that have kicked off their broadband challenge process.

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Montana begins broadband challenge process

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Starting November 1, broadband industry leaders, especially providers, are breathing a collective sigh of relief as NTIA officials have provided a <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/11/ntia-will-allow-alternatives-to-letter-of-credit-for-bead-funding-in-new-guidance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">programmatic waiver</a> providing states and territories with more options to ensure the financial reliability of BEAD grants.BEAD grant recipients, under previous rules, were required to produce a <a href="http://Letter of Credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letter of Credit</a> for a 25% of the total award amount from an FDIC-insured bank with a Weiss rating of B- or better, unless specified by BEAD rules. This required putting substantial sums of cash as collateral which often prevented smaller and minority-owned providers from participating.NTIA’s waiver provides numerous changes to the Letter of Credit requirements that aim to enhance access to funding, including allowing states to utilize a <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/performance-bonds-for-bead-grants" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">performance bond</a> for the full award amount.Performance bonds are a new chapter for the broadband sector with their full adoption pending the results of a national working group led by the <a href="https://www.nasbp.org/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Association of Surety Bond Producers,</a> or NASPB, and <a href="https://surety.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Surety and Fidelity Association of America</a>, or SFAA.The working group is expected to release its results in either the first or second quarter of 2024.<div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Lo_C_Performance_Bond_4d7bb4ad13/Lo_C_Performance_Bond_4d7bb4ad13.svg" alt="Performance Bonds"></div><h2>What are performance bonds?</h2>Performance bonds are surety bonds issued by an insurance company or bank that guarantees successful completion of a project. Performance bonds are most commonly used in the construction industry, legal sectors in the form of appeal bonds and some licensed occupations.Performance bonds allow the principal, such as an <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/isp-or-provider" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">internet service provider</a>, &nbsp;to be protected for the full cost of the project by the surety, or financial institution, that is providing the performance bond. The obligee, or entity requesting the work such as a municipality or state broadband office, in return, can file a claim against the bond to recover losses from uncompleted work.<h2>What’s the application process for a performance bond?</h2>Providers should first be sure to build relationships with surety providers prior to the application period. Read: This is not the time to procrastinate.Your first step should be to ask your company’s insurance provider to connect you with a surety agent that is familiar with the broadband sector. Having an agent with sector knowledge allows for productive conversations, accurate assessment of the application and its risks and, ultimately, the most beneficial terms for everyone involved.Be sure to take advantage of online resources such as <a href="https://broadband.money/start-broadband-grant-application" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.money</a> and <a href="https://www.beadbonding.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BEADbonding.com</a> which contain valuable resources on establishing BEAD-compliant contracts and performance bonds.Applicants will be expected during the submission process to provide business credit information and financial documents for an understanding of the applicant’s financial position. Sureties will also want information about the applicant’s progress on related projects, project schedule and work capacity.Some sureties might expect a pledge of collateral or cash funds depending on the size of the bond and the company’s track record with past projects.Surety agents will guide applicants through the entire underwriting process with bond costs ranging from 2%-6% of the total project cost or, in the case of BEAD, award amount.Approval timelines vary on a case-by-case basis. Smaller bonds, usually under $1 million, can be approved in a matter of hours, especially if the applicant has strong credit and is in a strong financial position. Larger bonds of up to $10 million can take up to two weeks.<h2>How are performance bonds being used in broadband?</h2>The national working group led by the NASPB and SFAA are working with the NTIA, states, ISPs, &nbsp;and other government entities to tailor guidelines for how performance bonds can be utilized with the BEAD program.Among the biggest challenges are reaching a middle ground between what language is acceptable to the NTIA for bonding purposes but also ensuring that bonds are able to still provide value to both applicants and grantors.<h2>What comes next?</h2>Grantors must become aware of their responsibilities surrounding performance bonds, such as awareness of project progress and ensuring that projects are completed in a timely manner. Failure to fill these responsibilities could potentially result in a bond being unable to be called upon.Applicants must become familiar with performance bonds and take preliminary steps to take advantage of them as soon as they are available. This includes being aware of their benefits, such as greater access to capital and diversity among applicants, and also a stronger assurance that the work will be done.Applicants should be sure to tap into numerous resources available from the broadband community, such as <a href="https://broadband.money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.money</a> and <a href="http://broadband.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband.io</a>.

A crash course on performance bonds for America’s leading broadband pros

Here’s what you need to know about performance bonds today.

Everything broadband pros need to know about performance bonds

Everything you need to know today about performance bonds

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Performance bonds 101 for Broadband Pros

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What Every Broadband Pro Should Know about Performance Bonds

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Recapping the 2023 broadband year in review centers on the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, the $42.5 billion last-mile broadband program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.Among the topics that will be discussed in the broadband community in the <a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/2023-broadband-year-in-review">end-of-year bash</a> on Friday, December 15, 2023, at 1 p.m. ET include the following:1. Broadband Maps and the Evolution to the Data-Driven State Broadband OfficeState broadband offices across the U.S. are now currently finalizing their initial proposals, after nearly a year of back-and-forth with first the Federal Communications Commission and then the National Telecommunications and Information Administration over data about broadband serviceable locations.&nbsp;As part of the BEAD program, state broadband offices need to ensure that maps identify all unserved locations (those that do not receive 25 Mbps down by 3 Mbps up) as well as all underserved locations, or those that do not receive 100 Mbps by 20 Mbps.Particularly in the early months of 2023, state broadband offices began shifting from a narrow focus on mapping to a more wholistic approach where smart, data-driven states found the need to ingest, analyze and process far more information than merely broadband locations on a map from the FCC.&nbsp;2. Allocation Awards to State Broadband OfficesMidway through the year, in a White House ceremony on June 26, 2023, President Joe Biden <a href="https://ready.net/state-broadband-office-resources/list-ntia-bead-broadband-grant-allocations">announced the award amount to states</a> under the BEAD program. Texas and California received the largest awards, with $3.3 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, but 19 states received more than $1 billion each, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.By late November, all 56 states and territories had released their proposals for public comment in their states, a necessary step before being officially submitted to the NTIA by December 27.&nbsp;Louisiana and Virginia were two states whose initial proposals (volume 1) have already been approved by NTIA.&nbsp;In general, Volume 1 details how states will ground-truth broadband coverage data, and approval of the volume by NTIA kicks off the challenge process on states’ broadband availability. Volume 2 outlines states’ plans for administering grant programs with their BEAD funds. That includes provisions like how grant applications will be scored,&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/11/ntia-will-allow-alternatives-to-letter-of-credit-for-bead-funding-in-new-guidance/">financing requirements</a>, and the price at which states will start to consider technology other than the fiber-optic cable favored by the program.States are able to submit volume 1 before volume 2, an effort by the NTIA to get challenge processes started and expedite the program’s process.&nbsp;This is&nbsp;driven by a sense of urgency: State broadband offices have only 365 days to award funds to broadband providers after their post-challenge process proposals are approved by NTIA.3. Middle Mile AwardsOn June 16, NTIA&nbsp;announced $930 million in funding for middle-mile broadband, nearly all of the $1 billion available for such projects under the bipartisan infrastructure law.In all, 35 projects were announced by the Commerce Departments, and these projects will cover 350 counties in 35 states and Puerto Rico. The states receiving the largest funds for these middle mile projects are Alaska, California, Texas, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Kansas.Grants ranged from&nbsp;$2.7 million to $88.8 million, and are expected to deploy more than 12,000 miles of new fiber. Because of what turned out to be a 93 percent match component, awardees contributed an extra $848 million in outside funding to these projects.4. Buy America Rules in Broadband InfrastructureIn August 22, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a limited draft waiver for some parts of the "Buy America" rules for BEAD. More significantly, the more worrisome aspects of the rules were resolved by private investment onshore. For example, analysts expressed optimism that Nokia’s announcement of an extensive fiber electronics manufacturing facility in the United States would alleviate concerns about current Buy America requirements for federal investment.As part of the IIJA as passed in November 2021, projects receiving federal funding needed to obtain at least 55 percent of their component by cost in the United States. The proposed waiver preserves that cost requirement for fiber optic cables, but removes the requirements for all electronics equipment used in fiber-optic technologies with the exception of four specific categories of fiber-optic equipment. But for industry onshore announcement, that would have been a concern for broadband builders under BEAD.&nbsp;5. Letter of Credit and Performance BondAfter considerable criticism by industry stakeholders, the NTIA on November 1 released alternatives to the letter of credit requirement for BEAD. Program rules had required that broadband providers produce a letter of credit from a bank for 25 percent of the amount they are awarded. That involved putting the cash up as collateral, which critics have said could prevent small broadband providers from participating.With the NTIA’s new “<a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.gov/funding-programs/policies-waivers/BEAD-Letter-of-Credit-Waiver">conditional programmatic waiver</a>,” states and territories will have other options to ensure the financial reliability of BEAD grants. Those include requiring a&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/performance-bonds-for-bead-grants">performance bond</a>&nbsp;for the full award, which the awardee only pays out if they fail to meet their build out requirements.&nbsp;The waiver allows states and territories to use completion milestones to lower letter of credit amounts over time, meaning the LOC could decrease from 25 percent of the grant as infrastructure is deployed, freeing up money for grant recipients to use in their BEAD projects. That option can also apply to performance bonds.The agency is also doing away with the 25 percent starting point, allowing the letter to be as low as 10 percent under certain circumstances, as well as accepting letters of credit from credit unions.6. Digital Discrimination and Broadband AffordabilityOne important aspect of the dialogue around BEAD over the past year concerns the importance of digital equity, and the prevention of digital discrimination. In November 2023, the FCC adopted new rules to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination. Following the urging of the NTIA, the FCC adopted a definition of digital discrimination that includes both disparate treatment (intentional discrimination) and disparate impact (unintentional disparities resulting from a company's policies and practices) on protected groups.How will this impact BEAD? It’s not 100 percent certain. But it’s plausible that the rules may enhance participation in BEAD.That’s because of an NTIA clarification that actions in compliance with the requirements of the BEAD Program or other similar federally-funded programs should be considered presumptively lawful under the digital discrimination rules. This means that ISPs are presumed to be in compliance with the new digital discrimination rules as long as they adhere to the program's guidelines.What other broadband issue do you think should be highlighted from 2023?

Recapping the 2023 broadband year in review centers on the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, the $42.5 billion last-mile broadband program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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The biggest broadband news of 2023? Hint: It's all about BEAD

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Identifying sources of matching funds is a critical component of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment process. Over the past 12 months, the Fiber Broadband Association “Where’s The Funding?” series has been designed to equip applicants with the tools and information they need to satisfy BEAD’s matching contribution requirements under the signature National Telecommunications and Information Administration broadband funding program.BEAD matching – JanuaryReady CEO&nbsp;Jase Wilson and Chief Operating Officer&nbsp;Mike Faloon gave an introduction to the BEAD financing requirements. The program requires applicants to match 25% of their project costs, either with their own capital or outside loans or investments. Crucially, those have to be secured before an application is submitted.“It’s going to be the hardest part of your grant journey,” Wilson said.BEAD matching – FebruaryThe BEAD program requires 25% matching funds, but applicants that secure more will have better chances of winning grants, said&nbsp;Evan Feinman, director of the BEAD program at NTIA.Those matching funds can come from municipalities with remaining money from other federal programs like the American Rescue Plan Act and the Treasury Department’s Capital Projects Fund.Another source of matching funds the NTIA will accept are in-kind donations, he said. That can include rights of way, pole access, and labor, among other things.Sources of capital – MarchDavid Hartin, president of the telecom investor ITC Holding Company, highlighted mezzanine debt and issuing convertible notes as potential ways of securing match funding for broadband grant applicants.Mezzanine debt offers repayment plans tailored to the borrower’s revenue. Convertible notes are a type of bond that can function like both debt and equity, as they can be converted into stock in the issuing company or cash of equal value.More sources of capital – AprilNonprofits have more flexibility when providing funds than banks or government offices, said&nbsp;Brian Vo, Chief Investment Officer at Connect Humanity, a nonprofit that finances digital equity projects. He has worked with providers to finance projects with revenue-based repayment plans, for example, in which loan payments are linked purely to how much money the network brings in after being constructed.Impact-focused nonprofits like Connect Humanity can help smaller providers especially, but he noted that even nonprofits will want a partner to be familiar with their financial condition.Navigating the previous Letter of Credit requirement – MayUntil the NTIA issued a waiver for its 25% letter of credit requirement in November 2023, many in the broadband community were worried about this rule. Many of the individuals campaigning for a change to this requirement spoke about this in a special Ask Me Anything session on<a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/ntia-letter-of-credit-discussion">&nbsp;November 9, 2023</a>. The updated guidance allows states to use performance bonds, which providers only pay out if the project fails, and milestone-based repayment plans to ensure the financial viability of a project.In May, WTF guest&nbsp;Elizabeth Bowles, president of Aristotle ISP, flagged the restrictive nature of the original rules. A 25% letter of credit would tie up too much cash up front for smaller companies to compete, she said.&nbsp;Getting matching funds – JuneChris Perlitz, managing director at Municipal Capital Markets Group, has been contemplating using grant anticipation notes from local banks to help finance BEAD projects. That’s short-term financing issued to borrowers expecting to receive a government grant.The funds can be placed in a trust account and used as collateral for letter of credit requirements, he said.Municipal bonds – JulyMunicipal bonds are debt issued by a city or town. Investors in such bonds are exempt from federal taxes and from most state taxes. They provide a low capital cost and can help grant-funded projects get off the ground, Perlitz said in his second WTF appearance.It will be important for providers to start building partnerships with municipalities early in the grant process, he said.Matching for rural electric co-ops – AugustLocal governments can assist BEAD applicants by putting up other federal money as matching funds, said&nbsp;Darren Farnan, CEO Missouri-based electric co-op United Fiber. County officials helped his co-op secure other state broadband grants by signing on to United Fiber’s applications and providing ARPA money toward the matching requirement.For co-ops specifically, the nonprofit model can allow networks in more densely populated areas to help subsidize the most remote places that for-profit companies won’t build to, he said.Challenges of matching funds – SeptemberConnect Humanity founder&nbsp;Jochai Ben-Avie discussed some of the challenges for rural providers looking to get matching funds. The high cost of serving rural areas is a significant barrier to getting that capital, he said, but small providers can work with electric co-ops to get pole access as an in-kind donation toward the 25% requirement.The NTIA also left open the possibility of waiving the match down to zero in high-cost areas, which a number of states are attempting to take the agency up on in theory initial proposals.Opportunities from securing matching grants – OctoberIn October,&nbsp;Jack Lawrence, chief financial officer of Amperage Infrastructure Corporation, spoke to the issue of how matching funds unlocks major broadband grants. Prior to Amperage, Jack was vice president at Priority Technology Holdings and oversaw the Priority Technology Ventures portfolio. Prior to joining Priority, he was CFO and CAO of Finxera, Inc., which was acquired by Priority.Tribal matching funds – NovemberTribal Ready CFO&nbsp;Joe Valandra and American Indian law practitioner&nbsp;Jennifer Weddle discussed some of the specific barriers and opportunities Tribal communities face in getting funding for BEAD projects.The BEAD matching requirement can be waived for Tribal projects, and Tribes need to be assertive about requesting those waivers from States, Weddle said.Tribes can also use any ARPA funds they have yet to spend if matches are necessary. &nbsp;

Highlights and takeaways from Fiber Broadband Association’s Where’s the Funding (WTF) series exploring sources of matching funds for NTIA's BEAD

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Here are some of the best WTF highlights!

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Jake Neenan

There are more than 7 million Americans who are members of either an American Indian or Alaska Native tribe. These members, like countless other Americans across the country, cannot ethically – or indeed legally – be overlooked in states’ efforts to expand access to affordable, quality Internet.During a recent appearance on <a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/ask-me-anything-with-adam-geisler" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ask Me Anything</a>, <a href="https://ready.net/blog/ntias-tribal-division-chief-adam-geisler-joins-native-owned-tribal-ready" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Adam Geisler</a>, president and chief operating officer of Tribal Ready and a member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, explained that his professional career has placed him at the intersection of Tribes and the federal government, including at the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and U.S. Department of Commerce.“We see ourselves as members of our traditional homelands, peoples, and nations but we’re also absolutely Americans and care about the success of this country, our neighbors and people around us,” Geisler said. “It’s important to not lose sight that Native American history is not a one-size-fits all and, as a result, the way that folks are seen by the federal government is different because of that region, history, interactions and that tribe’s past.”Geisler offered some valuable insights for partnering with Tribes that have been compiled into simple do’s and don’ts of building tribal partnerships.Do: Remember that if you’ve met one tribe, you’ve only met one tribeNative Americans are not a monolith. There’s a wide array of differences among Tribes, much like among U.S. states, that encompass areas, such as politics, culture, socioeconomic status and interactions with non-Native organizations.Everyone from California, for instance, will have their own unique experience of being a Californian. A person from Northern or Central California will have a different experience than someone who lives in Southern California.On a more granular level, this would mean that someone from the San Fernando Valley would have a different experience from someone from San Diego. All of these people and their experiences are meanwhile uniquely Californian.Don’t: Attempt to over-relate or make assumptionsIf you have to ask, it’s not appropriate to ask if they’re familiar with the mythical Native ancestor that someone swore you had and don’t try to compare your family’s origin story.Don’t assume that because one tribe operates in a certain manner that others will do the same.Be normal and keep the focus on what’s important: getting families and communities connected to broadband.Do: Break bread and ask plenty of questions about a tribe’s history and backgroundWhatever you do, don’t just start by jumping straight into work. Get to know the person on the other side of the table as a person, share a meal, ask about their families and what they’re passionate about.A great starting point can be the simple question, such as: What do you refer to yourselves as? Some communities prefer Native, Tribal, Native American, Indian or something entirely different. It will vary by each group, but all will appreciate your curiosity and respect by asking.Tribes are often eager to share about their unique culture, history and background. This commonly takes place early in the conversation as these discussions can provide crucial context for both parties seeking an effective understanding and partnership.<a href="https://tribalready.com/our-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Joe Valandra</a>, CEO of Tribal Ready, is known to spend a considerable amount of time providing historical background and answering questions about his tribe, Sicangua Lakota, and broader Native history.Don’t: Ask about their federal or state recognition statusAt the time of writing this article, there are 574 federally-recognized Tribes, but this number is expected to grow. Tribes, nonetheless, operate under tribal sovereignty, or the ability to govern people, land and processes in a manner that best serves their nations and tribal governments."The list of federally recognized Tribes continues to grow as time, policy and politics evolves on this issue,” Geisler said. “Don’t ask if they’re federally or state recognized because there’s nuances between each tribe’s relationship to the federal government varying by numerous factors, including treaty rights and other past agreements.”Do: Recognize the importance of tribal and data sovereignty and challenges faced by Native communitiesTribes are considered sovereign nations within the borders of the United States and, as a result, possess the right to govern their communities and data. Both of these issues remain incredibly important to Tribes after years of both of these concepts being neglected by the U.S. federal government throughout history.“Tribal Ready is helping Tribes evaluate those solutions, manage data and ensure that people aren’t monetizing or taking info away from these communities without their knowledge, permission or, in many instances, compensation,” Geisler said.Tribes, much like states and local communities, face similar challenges with deploying broadband whether it’s lack of accurate data or decades of underinvestment. Much like in other communities across the United States, many tribal leaders were thrust into the sector as their communities lacked adequate internet speeds to access educational and healthcare opportunities online.Geisler notes that Tribes are considering numerous approaches to close their digital divide. “Some want to fully own, build and operate ISPs, others want to look for someone other than their Tier One providers and are willing to build and others want to continue to work with their Tier One and subsidize, build and pay for the service,” Geisler said.Lastly, it’s important to remember that this article should be the beginning of your journey exploring tribal partnerships, not the end, and as such, aims to reach the broad points of this topic.&nbsp;

Interested in collaborating with Tribes? Here’s the place to start.

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Some Dos and Don'ts of Tribal Partnerships 

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There’s big changes coming for BEAD applicants after recent announcements from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on its controversial Letter of Credit requirement.&nbsp;Applicants, under new NTIA guidelines, will be eligible for a&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.gov/funding-programs/policies-waivers/BEAD-Letter-of-Credit-Waiver?_gl=1*usoi1u*_ga*MTUwNjEwMjY0OS4xNjk4ODQ4NDY3*_ga_H50FXLW992*MTY5ODg1NzU3MS4zLjEuMTY5ODg1NzczMy4wLjAuMA..*_ga_55V70TEFYT*MTY5ODg1NzU3MS4zLjEuMTY5ODg1NzczMy4wLjAuMA..&amp;_ga=2.210884693.1559733915.1698848467-1506102649.1698848467">Letter of Credit Waiver&nbsp;</a>and other sources of funding, such as <a href="http://performance bonds." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">performance bonds</a>. Credit unions are also now able to provide letters of credit according to the new guidelines.&nbsp;“Applicants can waive their letter of credit requirement entirely if their state issues funding on a reimbursable basis,” John Windhausen, president of SHLB Coalition and a member of the Letter of Credit (LOC) Coalition who ushered the change, said. “This, in turn, minimizes the risk to the federal government of losing money, allows applicants to take full advantage of greater flexibility provided by some states and allows for greater competition.”&nbsp;NTIA’s decision to allow credit unions to provide Letters of Credits gives greater flexibility to applicants with limited access to financial institutions. “Credit unions are usually the best equipped and knowledgeable about these small communities,” attorney Phil Macres, who is also a member of the LOC Coalition, said.The Letter of Credit Coalition, a broad coalition of industry experts and organizations, was responsible for pressuring the NTIA to modify the requirement.&nbsp;These experts will be conducting a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/ntia-letter-of-credit-discussion">Letter of Credit Discussion&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;on the broadband community on Thursday, November 9 at 12 p.m. ET.&nbsp;<h2>Why’s this important?&nbsp;</h2>Under previous guidelines, applicants were required to obtain a Letter of Credit valued at 25% of the total grant amount from a bank with a Weiss rating of B- or higher. This not only excluded other financial institutions, most notably credit unions, but also tied up enormous amounts of capital limiting opportunity to a smaller pool of applicants.&nbsp;Connect Humanity&nbsp;<a href="https://connecthumanity.fund/why-the-letter-of-credit-requirement-could-sink-bead/">provides a clear example of the requirement’s cost</a>. An applicant seeking to apply for&nbsp; a $7.5 million grant would need to have $4.6 million, or 61 cents per dollar, set aside at all times in order to be approved.&nbsp;“This presented an enormous burden to smaller applicants, minority-owned applicants, women-owned applicants and made many financially prohibited from participation,” Macres said. “It was even a hurdle for some bigger companies who couldn’t afford to just have so much cash on hand.”&nbsp;<h2>What’s next?&nbsp;</h2>Letter of Credit Coalition members are optimistic that modifications to the requirement will spur competition and allow for a larger pool of applicants. This, in turn, means a greater number of projects slated for completion.&nbsp;Windhausen told us that he believes this would allow non-profits and others to be able to qualify for projects serving anchor institutions which are usually less attractive to bigger players.&nbsp;As the financial services sector faces uncertainty, there remains growing concern of the requirement that financial institutions maintain a Weiss credit rating of B- or higher. This especially as some of the country’s largest banks, notably Wells Fargo and Bank of America, fail to meet the standard.&nbsp;To learn more, please be sure to RSVP and attend our Letter of Credit discussion&nbsp;<a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/ntia-letter-of-credit-discussion">here</a>.&nbsp;

There’s big changes coming for BEAD applicants after recent announcements from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on its controversial Letter of Credit requirement. 

Applicants, under new NTIA guidelines, will be eligible for a Letter of Credit Waiver and other sources of funding, such as performance bonds. Credit unions are also now able to provide letters of credit according to the new guidelines. 

Learn More about BEAD’s Letter of Credit Requirement Changes

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Want to Learn More about BEAD’s Letter of Credit Requirement Changes? Read this. 

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Leonard Robinson

 Communications Manager

Twelve states – Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming – have released volume one of their BEAD initial proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.Five – Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming – are still open for public comment.The NTIA requires states to submit their initial proposals in two volumes. Both volumes are due to the NTIA by December 27, 2023, 180 days after the formal allocation of BEAD funds on June 30.&nbsp;The first volume must include four pieces of information: existing broadband funding efforts, unserved and underserved locations, anchor institution definitions, and the state’s challenge process.The challenge process requirement calls for states to detail how they will accept and process challenges to location classifications and, crucially, data on broadband coverage. These state challenge processes are separate from the ongoing challenge process to the FCC’s broadband map and are mandatory for the disbursement of BEAD funds.States have access to the NTIA’s model challenge process to help them in this effort, and the agency encourages states to adopt the model process in full. All 12 states that have submitted volume one are heavily basing their challenge processes on the model.The model process outlines in detail a 90-day process with four phases. The NTIA allows this process to span up to 120 days, but states have not elected so far to take that extra time.<h3>Process begins with state broadband offices publishing a list of locations deemed eligible</h3>The process begins with state broadband offices publishing locations deemed eligible for BEAD funding by existing map data. These locations also have to be provided in volume one of the initial proposal.Challenge and rebuttal phases follow, in which challengers – limited to nonprofits, local and tribal governments, and service providers – submit challenges to the state on that eligibility, and service providers have a chance to rebut that challenge and prove their coverage is correctly recorded. In the final phase, broadband offices make final determinations on eligibility by sustaining or rejecting the challenges they’ve received.Acceptable challenge and rebuttal evidence include rigorous speed tests documenting low speeds or high latency and written documents from service providers informing customers that a specific service is not available in their area. The full scope of evidentiary standards for each challenge type can be found in the text of the model process, available for download&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internet4all.gov/bead-challenge-process-policy">here</a>.The model process outlines two optional provisions on how states can interpret FCC map data and make eligibility changes ahead of their challenge process.Most states are adopting at least one, electing to either consider locations the FCC marks as “served” – having broadband in excess of 100 Mbps upload and 20 Mbps download – as being “underserved” if the only technology available is DSL or to check coverage data against speed tests ahead of accepting official challenges.<h3>Vermont, Delaware and Ohio have added additional modifications to their proposals</h3>Only three are adding additional modifications: Vermont, Delaware and Ohio.&nbsp;All three states are modifying the model process to treat locations the FCC marks as served as being underserved if the only technology available in the area is fixed wireless cellular service. They cite the fact that cell speeds drop significantly with distance from a tower and can be throttled when networks are congested.Vermont is also adding a provision to treat served locations on the FCC map as “unserved” if there is evidence that providers in the area impose an “unreasonable capacity allowance (‘data cap’) on the consumer.” The state did not specify its threshold for determining unreasonableness.The model process also includes optional challenge types: MDU (multiple dwelling unit) and area challenges. These require providers to prove service for entire buildings or geographic areas if a certain number of challenges within that building or area are submitted.These modules are also popular with states who have released volume one, with all states except Montana and Utah explicitly adopting them.The existing broadband funding requirement calls for states to identify other existing broadband subsidy efforts within their borders. This includes both federal efforts like the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and state-funded initiatives.Meeting the community anchor institutions requirement involves identifying anchor institutions currently receiving less than 1 Gbps upload and download service. It also asks states to classify which organizations will get anchor institution status. This typically includes schools, libraries, and healthcare centers, but states can add other entities if they provide justification in their proposals.Five-year action plans are due 270 after states received initial planning grants. When states received these grants varies, but the last allocation was made on December 23, 2022.

Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming have released their initial proposals.

Which states have released volume I of their Bead initial proposals

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12 States Have Filed Volume 1 of BEAD Initial Proposals 

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State broadband offices are beginning to prepare in earnest for the challenge process under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. Now that guidance for the process has been provided by the federal government, states are now seeking to iron out the complexities of this process.As they do so, these state broadband offices should be aware of the opportunity to conduct an “area challenge” of service provider availability.&nbsp;Under the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internet4all.gov/bead-challenge-process-policy">model challenge process</a> – published on June 28, 2023, as a template for states – if six or more locations in a census block group allege the same technology from the same provider is not available or slower than state data indicates, an “area challenge” is initiated. This designates the entire block group as challenged.Normally, the challenger must provide evidence that their service is not available or worse than advertised in order to successfully change their location’s status in the state’s data. But under area challenges – for those states that make use of it – once the challenger provides sufficient evidence, the burden of proof switches to the provider, who must prove that it provides the reported service to the entire census block group.<h4>Detailed guidance on permissible challengers and allowable challenges</h4>The NTIA made clear in its June 28 guidance that challenges will be accepted from permissible challengers, which is limited to units of local and tribal government, nonprofit organizations and broadband service providers, to the state through a state-maintained online portal. The guidance includes the “BEAD Challenge Process Policy Notice” as well as the “BEAD Model Challenge Process”Those challenges that meet a minimum level of evidence must be rebutted within the rebuttal period or they will be considered sustained.&nbsp;The NTIA guidance provides a list of allowable challenges, which include identification of community anchor institutions, location eligibility determination, planned service, and enforceable commitments.&nbsp;Additionally, states must detail an approach that “ensures that sufficient opportunity and time is given to all relevant parties to initiate, rebut, and substantiate challenges.” They must also ensure their challenge process is transparent and detail in their plans to, at a minimum, publicly post documentation explaining the challenge process, publicly post all submitted challenges and rebuttals, and host a public-facing website featuring all the documentation.&nbsp;States are required to use the national broadband map as a starting point to identify all eligible locations within the state prior to conducting the challenge process. They may modify locations to reflect data not present in the national broadband map upon NTIA approval. They will not be allowed to add or remove broadband serviceable locations or change the definitions of unserved and underserved from those set in the national broadband map.&nbsp;<h4>Changes from April version of the NTIA guidance</h4>In April, the NTIA released a&nbsp;<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/louisiana-works-on-map-challenge-process-as-it-prepares-digital-equity-plan-for-next-week/">proposed BEAD Challenge Process Model</a> which outlined similar guidance with a shorter challenge process window of 90 days. The new guidance provides more detail into the requirements under each step of the challenge process.In particular, among the changes to the April guidance are that states “may rely on CAIs to identify their unmet broadband need. Where SBO capacity is limited, Eligible Entities should focus their efforts on enumerating those CAIs that are currently not served by gigabit broadband.” Additionally, the NTIA added this line: “If a provider claims gigabit service availability for a [community anchor institution] or a unit of local government disputes the CAI status of a location, the CAI may rebut” the challenge.Additionally, the NTIA makes clear that individual broadband users may be able to “submit challenges through their unit of local government or a nonprofit, preferably via a web portal. This unit of local government or nonprofit will then upload the challenges to the state challenge portal, which in turn notifies the broadband provider of the challenge.”Challenge processes must be completed within 120 days of commencement and allow challenges and rebuttals to be submitted for a minimum of 14 days.&nbsp;Upon completion of the challenge process, states must submit to NTIA for review the proposed final classifications of each unserved, underserved, and community anchor institution location.&nbsp;Federal Communications Commission’s “Fabric”The NTIA relies upon the FCC’s National Broadband Map for the allocation of $42.5 billion in federal funds for expanding broadband infrastructure from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program. The money is being distributed to states based on the coverage available to their residents as recorded in the second version of the FCC map.For states looking to allocate their BEAD funds, a challenge process of their own is not only beneficial, but required by the NTIA.Challenges submitted to states will be used to create state-specific maps which each will use to plan BEAD projects. States have until December 27, 2023, to submit the first volume of their initial proposals, which must detail this challenge process.States have the opportunity to create their own challenge processesStates can create their own process from scratch or adopt the NTIA’s model challenge process. Several states have already released their volume one proposals.The area challenge mentioned above is an optional provision in the NTIA’s process that could significantly ease the burden on consumers and states looking to create the most accurate possible broadband maps.Under normal challenge rules, the challenger must provide proof that their service is different – usually worse – than state data suggests. This can involve a number of things, depending on what specifically is being challenged. For example, the service availability, speed, latency, and technology offered at a location, among other things, can all be challenged.A challenger might have to submit screenshots of denied service requests, speed tests, excerpts of their service agreements – again, among other things – to back up their claim. But even if that evidence is enough to uphold the challenge, it only changes the designation of their specific location.But what if an entire swathe of land is incorrectly categorized?&nbsp; By the typical challenge rules, everyone in that area would have to submit their own challenges and prove they were getting worse service than state records show.That’s where the area challenge comes in. As the NTIA notes in the BEAD Challenge Process Policy Notice, “If the challenger determines that an area served by a provider within a census block group should be reclassified as unserved or underserved in step (1), the Eligible Entity may issue an area challenge (i.e., may declare all locations by that provider within the area to be similarly unserved or underserved). All locations in that area enter the “challenged” state. Providers may rebut area challenges for some or all locations within the area.In the “BEAD Model Challenge Process,” the NTIA elucidates that “the broadband office will administer area … challenges…. An area challenge reverses the burden of proof for availability, speed, latency, data caps and technology if a defined number of challenges for a particular category, across all challengers, have been submitted for a provider. Thus, the provider receiving an area challenge… must demonstrate that they are indeed meeting the availability, speed, latency, data cap and technology requirement, respectively, for all (served) locations within the area or all units within an MDU.”This area challenge is optional and states are not required to use it. But for states that do implement the area challenge, it gives states the opportunity to reverse this burden of proof from the challenger to the internet service provider.Under the area challenge rule, if six locations in a census block group submit the same kind of challenge to the same technology from the same provider – six locations challenge DSL speed from one provider, for example, then the&nbsp;provider must prove that they serve the entire census block group as recorded in state data.This would prevent states and communities from having to crowdsource hundreds of challenges in a block group and reverses the burden of proof onto providers, who have the infrastructure to provide network diagrams and conduct performance tests across large areas with network management systems.The Challenge Process CoordinatorOne important tool in managing the challenge process is Ready.net’s&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/products/challenge-process-coordinator">Challenge Process Coordinator</a>, which sets the evidentiary standard for NTIA-acceptable and customizable data collection. The Challenge Process Coordinator is customizable for every challenge type, and only allows permissible challengers to create an account and submit challenges.&nbsp;Further, the&nbsp;CPC contains features that enable challengers to submit high quality challenges that meet the NTIA's standard and are easy to adjudicate automatically. This is because the data is not only completely customizable (and deduplicated), but also because gating is automatically applied to only permit locations that are appropriate for the challenge. For example, if provider A's cable is challenged, only locations receiving provider A's cable can be selected for that challenge - not provider B's cable or provider A's fiber.Additionally, the Challenge Process Coordinator breaks down the language into a series of simple questions that easily break down the complex guidance for challengers. This enables them to submit evidence that meets the challenge’s needs without any confusion. The tool also allows for integrated messaging, allowing the state broadband office to meet the messaging requirements for notifying providers when challenged.After the challenge window closes, the data is automatically extracted in the NTIA defined format to submit for final approval. This takes away an otherwise tedious process for the state broadband office. Upon approval from the NTIA, changes are automatically populated to the internal and public facing maps through the synchronized maps deployed for the office.

A guide to the evidentiary standard of the BEAD Challenge Process with an emphasis on the area challenge module for State Broadband Offices.

Piecing the evidence need for the BEAD Challenge Process

An Evidence-Based Challenge Process for State Broadband Offices

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Half-way through the Fiber Broadband Association’s 12-part monthly webinar series, listeners have learned some but not all of the information they need to know about seeking capital for the matching requirement in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program.&nbsp;Director of the BEAD program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Evan Feinman <a href="https://broadband.money/events/bead-matching-funds-deep-dive-with-bead-director-evan-feinman">told the broadband community</a> that the program emphasizes a “bottom-up approach” where state, local, regional, and tribal governments work in partnership with the federal government to expand broadband networks.According to Feinman, the requirement serves as a gatekeeping and scoring criteria for infrastructure projects and digital equity programs.&nbsp;He also discussed how allocations were based on the second version of the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map, which has faced criticism from stakeholders across the country. But Feinman said that the map was continuously improving and would help assess general broadband needs and will allow states to submit further in-depth proposals.“It will create gatekeeping criteria for who is bringing a project properly before them the, and then scoring criteria for both deployment activities, which is to, say, infrastructure, and non-deployment activities, which is digital equity programming,” said Feinman.David Hartin, president of private equity firm with holdings in telecommunications and technology ITC Holding, s<a href="https://broadband.money/events/episode-3-intro-to-the-capital-stack-how-will-you-structure-the-capital-invested-in-your-company">uggested that internet service providers start</a> by knowing their business.“We [as a private equity firm] are looking at you to know your business better than we do so just make sure that you know the number of subscribers, your annual revenue, monthly revenue,” said Hartin. He urged providers to ensure their valuation expectations are correct and applicable.Connect Humanity Chief Investment Officer <a href="https://broadband.money/events/where-s-the-funding-episode-4-partnerships-alternative-sources-and-pathways">Brian Vo, added</a> that financing “starts with a conversation on how you want to optimize your capital.” A provider with 10,000 subscribers might be interested in more of a project or revenue-based financing where small providers may want to avoid banks completely due to recessionary and inflation pressure, he said.Non-profit organizations often have greater flexibility in providing funding compared to government agencies and banking institutions, said Vo, whose Connect Humanity in a non-profit that works for community financing. But non-profit applicants still must be knowledgeable about their financial abilities, market conditions, potential partnerships, risks and threats, he said.&nbsp;Jase Wilson and Mike Faloon, co-founders of Ready.net, <a href="https://broadband.money/events/where-s-the-funding">urged ISPs to start</a> the matching process early by researching funding options and building capital stack and resources to finance their projects.&nbsp;Principal of Klein Law Group Phillip Macres and CEO of internet service provider Aristotle Elizabeth Bowles <a href="https://broadband.money/events/where-s-the-funding-episode-5-navigating-the-letter-of-credit">warned ISPs that they will also have to prepare for the letter of credit</a> requirement. The letter of credit, a bank note that guarantees payment of 25 percent of grant awards in event of a default, adds to the 25 percent project cost match requirement. The money associated with the letter of credit is held in a frozen account during that time and can have significantly detrimental affects on providers.During <a href="https://broadband.money/events/where-s-the-funding-episode-6-securing-matching-funds-efficiently" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Episode 6</a> and <a href="https://broadband.money/events/where-s-the-funding-episode-7-tapping-municipal-markets" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Episode 7</a>, Chris Perlitz, managing director with Municipal Capital Markets Group, told the community that municipal bonds are a great source of capital. Municipal bonds offer tax-exempt benefits for investors and are often among the most affordable means of raising capital, he said.&nbsp;All past and future episodes can be accessed on Broadband.Money/WTF. Join us on August 16 for the next episode, Matching Funds for Rural Electric Cooperatives, that will examine the financing options available for rural electric co-ops to expand their footprints.

What listeners have learned (and what they need to know) about the matching requirement in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program. 

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Series Focuses on Matching Funds and Raising Capital

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Ready.net announced the appointment of broadband policy and mapping expert Dustin Loup as the company’s new Director of Community Development.&nbsp;Loup comes from his position as project director for broadband and digital equity at Washington State University Extension where he led a statewide project to support broadband and digital equity planning efforts at the local and tribal level. In this work, he worked closely with the State Broadband Office to support capacity and planning framework for Broadband Action Teams and Tribes to provide critical input into the State’s BEAD Five-Year Action and Digital Equity Plans.&nbsp;He has also served as the program manager of the National Broadband Mapping Coalition on behalf of the Marconi Society for the past year and a half and will continue to serve in this role.The National Broadband Mapping Coalition was founded in 2021 to facilitate the coordination and alignment around the critical work of mapping and measuring broadband availability and performance in the United States. During his time with the Coalition, it grew from 25 people to over 300 participants from a wide range of stakeholders, including at every level of government and has become a leading voice on broadband mapping issues.&nbsp;Over the past year, the Coalition has focused heavily on the FCC’s National Broadband Map and the State Challenge Process under BEAD, advocating for policies and outcomes aimed at elevating the role of ground-truth data in critical decisions about broadband policy and funding. While it is difficult to attribute any specific policy decisions to any one source, many of the approaches that the National Broadband Mapping Coalition has called for have been incorporated in part into the NTIA’s BEAD Challenge Process policies, including shifting the burden of proof from the challenger to the challenged if there are a certain number of challenges for the area through the Area Challenge Modul and recognizing that speed test data can provide valid evidence when employing a rigorous methodological approach.&nbsp;Loup expressed his excitement about joining the team at Ready, because they are driven by the goal of supporting the most effective and equitable outcome possible in the deployment of this generational funding for deploying broadband to unserved and unserved communities.The tools Ready has created and are creating “have the ability to empower states, communities, and tribes to reach the best outcome,” he said, “Not only do the tools and team at Ready work to make that more efficient and effective, but also more equitable.”Loup’s ultimate goal is to get high-speed internet access to the people that need it most by supporting the development of tools and resources for the states, localities, and tribes that will reach the best outcomes. In this role, he will work with partners, states, tribes, and localities to support the development of strategies, tools, and resources to work through the barriers and reach the best possible outcome in working toward universal service and adoption.&nbsp;Loup has always been amazed at the power of the internet to provide access to communication and information. He has spent his entire career on various internet policy components, including a stint in the global domain name system governance. Over the course of his work, Loup has continued to return again and again to the issue of tackling digital divide as a way to include all communities in the benefits of the internet.

Loup led the National Broadband Mapping coalition on behalf of the Marconi Society and will continue to serve in this role.

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Mapping Expert Dustin Loup Joins Ready as Director of Community Development

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Tera Whipple

Reporter

Gigi Sohn is in the news again. She’s found a new energy and visibility as the executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, which seeks to ensure that municipalities can participate in building their own broadband project.In fact, just days ahead of a special live appearance on a <a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/ready-or-not-live-with-gigi-sohn" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ready or Not? LIVE podcast with Scott Woods</a>, she was warning Utah residents about attacks on broadband freedom of choice in an <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2023/07/09/gigi-sohn-bountiful-city-voted/">op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune</a> Sunday.&nbsp;In a brief interview, Sohn amplified on the op-ed. In it, she highlighted how the Utah Taxpayers Association had hired a group called Gather Utah to obtain signatures for a petition that would put a halt to Bountiful, Utah’s <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/utah-city-approves-utopia-fiber-build/">new partnership</a> with UTOPIA Fiber in an open-access model.<a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/documentary-on-utopia-fiber-brings-opportunity-to-envision-role-of-open-access-networks">UTOPIA Fiber</a> operates an open access network upon which dozens of competitive ISPs offer their services to businesses and residents. It is the largest operating open access network in the United States and continues to grow. The network’s net revenues have begun to pay down the infrastructure debt that the cities incurred to build the network.&nbsp;Sohn’s warning is the first of its sort since <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/gigi-sohn-announced-as-new-executive-director-of-the-american-association-for-public-broadband/">her appointment</a> in May as the new executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, a nonprofit founded by state and local broadband officials to build a diverse membership of public broadband networks nationwide and advocate for municipal broadband at all government levels.Sohn claimed that the UTA, which doesn’t publish a list of its due paying members or its board of directors, has “long been opposed to communities having the freedom to choose the best broadband internet access for their residents.”&nbsp;Furthermore, two huge cable and broadband companies, Comcast and CenturyLink were previously members of UTA and have been “vocally opposed to community-owned broadband for decades.” They are known for financially supporting UTA in exchange for pushing policies that help maintain their market dominance, Sohn said.&nbsp;Large ISPs are focused solely on return on investment, they aren’t interested in serving poor people, Sohn told Broadband Breakfast. Communities should have the freedom to choose the broadband that they want, she stated.&nbsp;She told this reporter that her primary aim as head of AAPB is to promote community broadband by giving communities the tools they need to adopt the model. Tools include an upcoming webinar series and community toolkits. Sohn said that she will also work to highlight successful community broadband projects across the U.S.Some small, rural internet service providers are interested in the community broadband model, but big companies are not, she said. The community broadband model can be a great way to expand an ISPs business, she claimed, stating that she hopes large providers can see the opportunity to expand their markets.&nbsp;The notion that broadband services are a free market product, meaning that they are exchanged on a system of supply and demand with little to no government control, is nonsense, said Sohn, fighting against the argument that taxpayer dollars should not be used to compete against ISP’s private investments. Every provider has access to millions of dollars from the Affordable Connectivity Program, the Universal Service fund, Capital Projects Fund and has access to public rights of way, she said.&nbsp;The Affordable Connectivity ProgramSohn also spoke briefly about the Affordable Connectivity Program, which subsidizes high-speed internet subscription by $30 a month or $75 a month on tribal lands, is <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/starlink-likes-fcc-direction-on-12-ghz-verizon-urges-acp-funding-rosenworcel-continues-acp-tour/">predicted to run out of funds</a> as soon as the first quarter of 2024.According to Sohn, lawmakers have discussed cutting ACP subsidies to extend the program longer. She vehemently opposed this proposal, claiming that doing so will destroy programs that people rely on to get access to the internet.&nbsp;Sohn pointed to Ting Internet, a small ISP that provides a $30 plan to ACP recipients – making it completely free to its subscribers – that provides a Gig symmetrical speed. This program could not be possible without the full capacity of the ACP program, said Sohn.The idea solution is to fold the ACP into the lifeline program, which is funded by the universal service fund, said Sohn. The USF is a nearly $10 billion fund that relies on dwindling voice service revenues to fund several programs that support low-income broadband access in the U.S.The FCC must fix the USF revenue stream and find a place for the ACP as a rebranded lifeline program, Sohn said. However, Sohn said she is “not optimistic” about this solution being passed by Congress and instead suggested that Congress add additional money to the program to support it for another two years.Furthermore, Sohn pushed for community anchor institutions to have more opportunities under the law to “aggregate demand” for the ACP among the eligible residents in their area. “Successful broadband adoption programs come from the bottom up, not the top down,” she said in <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-340290A1.pdf">remarks</a> at a Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband annual conference.Community anchor institutions should be responsible to educate ACP eligible residents about the program and its benefits and provide digital literacy training to help residents be more confident about their digital skills, she said.Background and confirmation battleSohn is well known for her work in broadband throughout her career. Most recently, she was <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/01/gigi-sohn-renominated-social-media-engagement-practices-median-broadband-and-mobile-speeds-up/">nominated by President Joe Biden</a> for Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, having served from 2013 to 2016 as a senior counselor then then-chairman Tom Wheeler.&nbsp;Since that time, she has been a senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society and a board member at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She was the co-founder and initial executive director of Public Knowledge.After she failed to advance in the Senate as a commissioner at the FCC, Sohn <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/03/fcc-nominee-gigi-sohn-withdraws-from-consideration/">withdrew her candidacy</a>. “As a person who’s always been a public advocate, it was extremely frustrating to be muzzled, to not be able to talk about the important issues,” she <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/05/gigi-sohn-announced-as-new-executive-director-of-the-american-association-for-public-broadband/">said</a> at the announcement of joining ACPB.

Sohn was standing up for the UTOPIA Fiber open access network in Utah, in which dozens of competitive ISPs offer their services to businesses and residents.

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Gigi Sohn warns against attacks on broadband freedom of choice

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Bringing reliable, high-speed Internet access to every Mississippian has been at the heart of BEAM’s mission since its formation in 2019, including its capital fund project to create a grant program to successfully connect more than 30,000 unserved locations in the state.&nbsp;For a substantial portion of her career, Sally Doty has been in public service to the people of Mississippi. Her work as director of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility in Mississippi, the state’s newly formed broadband office, aims to tackle one of the state’s greatest challenges: access to robust, affordable, high-speed broadband.&nbsp;A former Mississippi state senator, Doty became familiar with broadband issues while chairing the energy committee in 2019 when Mississippi&nbsp;<a href="https://www.electric.coop/mississippi-law-frees-co-ops-to-pursue-broadband-issues-remain">lifted its ban on electric cooperatives providing broadband service.</a> A year later, Governor Tate Reeves appointed Doty to serve as the executive director of the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff, an independent agency that provides recommendations to the elected Mississippi Public Service Commission.&nbsp;That same year, Mississippi received $75 million in CARES Act funding with a bulk of the funds supporting partnerships with electric cooperatives to expand broadband access.&nbsp;&nbsp;During the 2022 legislative session, Mississippi passed HB 1029 establishing a broadband office in the state. Doty was tapped in July as its first executive director.&nbsp;"We've been operating more similar to dog years than human years,” Doty said. “We’ve done about seven years worth of work in a period of nine months.”&nbsp;BEAM celebrates its first-year anniversary on July 1 and the organization is continuing to look forward whether it’s in preparing awards for grant recipients or drafting their five-year plan to the NTIA.&nbsp;For Kyle Brown, the agency’s deputy director, BEAM’s future is most likely to be as unpredictable and exciting as the present.&nbsp;“I always tell people that at BEAM, every day is something different,” Brown said. “One minute you can be working on the 5-year plan for BEAD, and the next, you’re on a call trying to help a smaller ISP find access to capital and then approving reimbursement requests for our BIP grant and you then notice it is only 10:15 in the morning.”&nbsp;BEAM’s achievements in the state are numerous. They include awarding $32 million in grants that were transferred from the Mississippi Public Utilities staff and successfully applying for three grants. The first, a digital equity grant, would allow for the state to provide educational and accessibility resources to those with little exposure to broadband. The second, a BEAD planning grant, allowed for the agency to successfully award BEAD grants to participating partners. The third being the agency’s capital project funding with its award amount announced on June 30th and being funded through the U.S. Treasury Department.&nbsp;BEAM, Doty says, plans to utilize the Capital Project Funding to support a competitive grant program to expand access to the state’s 300,000 unserved locations. Applications for the program will close on August 17 with awards being announced later this year.&nbsp; “Our application portal for the capital project fund grant is very intuitive, easy-to-understand and has many tools and resources that make it easy to use and apply,” Doty said.&nbsp;A crucial part of the team’s success, Doty says, came from the agency’s partnership with Ready.net. Ready has crafted a performance test and survey for Mississippians to test and report their internet quality. This allows for state officials to make data-driven decisions and validate ISP claims with on-the-ground evidence. Ready has also guided the state through a map challenge, a process for those interested in applying for grants but have locations that they believe should or should not be eligible for funds.“Ready has been a great partner, beyond mapping,” Doty said. “Whether it’s the knowledgeable staff, innovative thinking or the access, it’s always the best and has paid off for Mississippi. They always come down when we ask them even though it’s hot.”&nbsp;Mapping, Doty says, remains incredibly important as the FCC’s map often overestimates the amount of access that states.&nbsp;“Mississippi, according to the FCC’s map, for instance, is entirely covered with adequate broadband access and we know that’s not the case,” Doty said. “Our partnership with Ready and through the use of the data that we’ve gathered has allowed us to ensure that we’re meeting those that are unserved first and not overbuilding in a few areas.”&nbsp;BEAM’s work involves monitoring and supporting the success of the grant awardees throughout the construction and implementation phase.This often means coordinating with other agencies, such as a project that needed to hire an archaeologist as the site ran through the Trail of Tears for Natives being removed from Alabama and Mississippi to Oklahoma. Another project required 300 easements in order to properly bury the fiber underground.&nbsp;“As an office, we have completed 22 community engagement meetings across the state along with 31 other meetings and events, such as Rotary Club meetings, groundbreaking ceremonies for broadband projects and meetings and with county supervisors and more than 20 meetings regarding digital skills and accessibility,” Ashley Johnson, BEAM’s community engagement manager said. “We have done all of this in preparation of BEAD and for&nbsp;BEAM to know the concerns of Mississippians in all corners of the state and make sure those concerns can be addressed as BEAD plans are being made.”&nbsp;Traveling across the state visiting these projects has given a first-hand glimpse at the benefits of expanded access, Doty says. Notable examples include the young couple able to relocate to Mississippi closer to their parents while maintaining their remote work jobs, a convenience store clerk able to accept non-cash payments, and a Spanish teacher able to cover more than twice the amount of material per class session.&nbsp; This is especially meaningful for the Mississippi Delta, an agricultural hub in the state with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/entrenched-poverty-tough-shake-mississippi-delta-n790286">poverty rates double the national average</a>, where expanded broadband access could allow for greater economic opportunity and advancement in the agriculture business.&nbsp;“We are very much focused on providing service to the Mississippi Delta,” Doty said. Broadband in the Delta would mean slowing the trend of population decline and allowing for many of the region’s farmers to take advantage of precision agriculture and other innovations that could allow for economic growth.”&nbsp;

Bringing reliable, high-speed Internet access to every Mississippian has been at the heart of BEAM’s mission since its formation in 2019, including its capital fund project to create a grant program to successfully connect more than 30,000 unserved locations in the state. 

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Sally Doty and Mississippi BEAM expand broadband access across the Magnolia State 

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The surprise wasn’t what President Biden said about broadband in the East Room of the White House – it was that he said it in the East Room of the White House.As far as federal programs go, $42.5 billion isn’t nothing. But it isn’t a lot of money, either. I think the takeaway of yesterday’s announcement is that Biden (and Vice President Kamala Harris) want to be associated with improving Americans’ broadband.&nbsp;<h2>Parallels with rural electrification of three generations ago</h2>I was struck by the repeated mentions of the connection between the bipartisan infrastructure law and the 1936 Rural Electrification Act passed during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.The 1936 law intended to bring electricity to nearly every home and farm in America, the administration noted.&nbsp;“High-speed internet is the new electricity,” the White House noted in the first page of its briefing guide.&nbsp;“Today, roughly 8.5 million locations across America aren’t connected to the internet. The Biden-Harris Administration is going to close that gap. As a result of once-in-a-generation funding in the President’s Investing in America agenda… to bring affordable, reliable, high-speed internet to everyone in America.”&nbsp;<h2>States learn that they win some and lose some</h2><a href="https://ready.net/state-broadband-office-resources/list-ntia-bead-broadband-grant-allocations" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">States are still digesting their numbers released yesterday.</a>Some states, like Virginia, were pleased with their numbers – $1.48 billion. Other states, like Kansas, were disappointed – $451 million. The next step will be to compare the numbers released yesterday with the various industry and analyst projections that have been made.&nbsp;Critically important will be understanding why&nbsp;each state received their particular award – and the tools that state broadband offices need to manage the state challenge processes.&nbsp;<h2>Linkages to other aspects of the Biden administration’s Investing in America agenda</h2>Another thing I heard while I listened to Biden’s statements yesterday was how the president is doubling down on “Buy America” rules.In its briefing prior to the announcement, the administration highlighted how “President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is driving a manufacturing boom – in part because of provisions in the historic legislation passed by President Biden that requires made-in-America materials.”For example, they highlighted a recent announcement in North Carolina by fiber optic cable manufacturers Corning and CommScope announced $500 million and $47 million expansions of facilities earlier in the year.There are some thorny issues to address here, too. But as the broadband industry welcomes the implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, in needs to be conscious of sorting through these challenges, too.

Parallels with rural electrification, states digest their awards, and learning to live with Buy America rules.

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Some early takeaways on the Biden administration’s BEAD allocation announcement

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Drew Clark

Editor and Publisher

If the past couple of years of pandemic aid have shown us anything, it’s that the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/08/1161284053/biden-rural-funding?utm_source=sendgrid&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletters&amp;mc_cid=3b9894371d&amp;mc_eid=f63cc288fd">process of channeling help</a> to communities that need it the most is complex. Just because Congress appropriated money doesn’t mean that targeted communities will receive it: Communities have to discover a benefit. Then its members have to figure out if they’re eligible, and how they can access it.Oftentimes, these communities don’t trust the offers of help because the means by which the benefit is being distributed is hijacked by unethical actors (as described recently in this<a href="https://ilsr.org/building-for-digital-equity-podcast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Institute for Local Self Reliance podcast interview</a> with Margaret Kaufer, President of the STEM Alliance of Westchester, New York.)That’s why a <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/kids-action/articles/why-closing-the-digital-divide-is-a-team-effort" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pilot campaign undertaken </a>last Fall in Phoenix, Arizona by Common Sense Media to bolster adoption of the Biden Administration’s <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/acp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Affordable Connectivity Program</a> is so worthy of attention. The program boosted ACP enrollment to 8,500 households a month at its peak, up from 2,900 households in August 2022. That 8,500 number is the highest number of eligible households enrolled in the program since its inception in March last year, according to Common Sense Media.&nbsp;The campaign is notable because studies have shown that only<a href="https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/wp-content/uploads/No-Home-Left-Offline_Accelerating-ACP-Adoption_2022.pdf">&nbsp;1 in 4 eligible households have enrolled in the ACP since it launched in 2021</a>. And a <a href="https://www.benton.org/blog/half-acp-eligible-households-still-unaware-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">January, 2023 survey</a> conducted on behalf of he Benton Institute for Broadband &amp; Society revealed that half of eligible households still aren't aware of the benefit. Currently, 16 million households have enrolled in the program, but an estimated 52 million are eligible. The Federal Communications Commission administers the program, and in March 2023, it allocated $66 million to dozens of local non-profits across the country to also boost awareness and adoption.&nbsp;The ACP is a key part of the Biden Administration’s signature program to bring affordable internet access and economic opportunity to all households in the country. The program provides a monthly subsidy of up to $30 a month for broadband subscriptions&nbsp; to households with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, or that participate in a qualifying federal benefits program. Eligible households also can receive a one-time discount up to $100 toward a device from certain providers after contributing between $10 and $50.&nbsp;Ready offers <a href="https://ready.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Turnkey ACP</a>, a product that enables providers the ability to seamlessly offer eligible households ACP discounts to new subscribers when these prospective subscribers sign up for service.The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriated $14.2 billion to fund the ACP program. At the same time, some<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/3535663-affordable-connectivity-program-needs-permanent-funding/">&nbsp;predict that the program may run out of money by 2024</a> if Congress and the Administration doesn’t renew the funding stream. Advocates want to make sure that the households that need the subsidy to participate in the modern economy get access to it as soon as possible. According to a<a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20190648">&nbsp;2021 study</a> from the American Economic Journal, subsidized broadband for low-income Americans have helped them gain employment and decreased their likelihood of being unemployed.&nbsp;<h2>Digital Navigators are essential&nbsp;</h2>Common Sense’ pilot campaign leveraged the deep bench of human resources of an existing institution, a highly-targeted media campaign, and partnerships with state and local government leaders to gain trust and get the word out.&nbsp;“Our main criteria was finding an area where we could have a partner that had the capacity to do a call center or text-based navigator support program,” said Drew Garner, Common Sense Media’s state broadband policy advisor.&nbsp;The nonprofit found that partner in the<a href="https://digitalequityinstitute.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Digital Equity Institute</a>, an Arizona-based nonprofit, and Arizona State University, which had recently received $35 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for digital equity work. The university partnered with Common Sense Media to direct all the ACP signup inquiries generated by its targeted advertising campaign to its 150 university tech support staff, who adopted the additional role of being digital navigators for the ACP.&nbsp; The navigators’ job was to help callers obtain the credentials needed to obtain the monthly subsidy, but also to help them understand their complex menu of options.Garner worked with Common Sense’ Senior Director of Advocacy Campaigns Elizabeth Foley, Arizona Director Ilana Lowery, and the Digital Equity Institute’s Managing Director Erin Carr-Jordan to implement the pilot project.&nbsp;“Not only do we help them with getting the benefit through the national verifier,” Garner explained. “We can also answer questions about internet service. Like what do ‘speeds’ mean? What sort of speeds do you need for the size of your family? Do you want a mobile, or do you want a fixed line?”&nbsp;Garner says the duration of the calls spanned from 5 minutes to 2 hours. But the average was 12 minutes.&nbsp;Arizona State University’s digital navigators are available 24/7 and speak multiple languages. They are led and trained by Alexa Tarvid, an experienced digital navigator formerly with the state library system.. In addition to their training, the University’s navigators also have access to internal articles that pop up on their computers with Frequently-Asked-Questions about the ACP.&nbsp;“To get the benefit to the people who need it, you need navigators – specialists who can help a person enroll, and then apply the benefit because the target population may not have internet connectivity, and they may not have a device,” Garner says. “They almost certainly don't have a lot of familiarity with computers and how to navigate these forms. So paying for the human capacity to work with people on a one-on-one basis over the phone or in person is critical. And if you do that, you start bringing money into the state, because the more people you enroll, the more ACP money your state is going to get.”<h2>Getting the word out</h2>Common Sense Media spent $300,000 on a bilingual advertising campaign to publicize the availability of the ACP. The campaign reached targeted audiences in South Phoenix online, at bus shelters, on billboards, on TV, and on the radio. Each form of media relied on a unique phone number so that Common Sense could track which medium generated the best response.&nbsp;“The key really was frequency,” says Common Sense’ Elizabeth Foley. “The ideal was for an individual to see a TV ad, and then the next day when they're maybe on their commute, or you know out of their house seeing the outdoor ads.”The idea was that multiple forms of exposure would nudge the eligible residents of South Phoenix to take action and call to sign themselves up for the benefit.&nbsp;&nbsp;Common Sense’ ads featured its&nbsp;<a href="https://getmyinternet.org/">Get My Internet</a> ACP website, and an 800 number. The campaign drew the attention of local media and generated stories in the Arizona Republic and the local public radio affiliate.&nbsp;Common Sense and the Digital Equity Institute also worked with the state broadband office and local officials to get the word out. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/the-mayor-of-phoenix-talks-about-the-acp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">filmed a PSA for the campaign</a>, and the video was promoted through Common Sense and the city’s social media channels. All this resulted in 1600 calls to Arizona State University’s call center in 12 weeks. Callers received information about how to sign up for ACP, what internet subscription plans might work for them, as well as material from Common Sense’ education arm about how families can navigate the internet safely, find jobs and make health appointments.&nbsp;Garner also recommends that state offices that administer federal benefits such as Medicaid and SNAP may want to inform beneficiaries about ACP so that they can connect with the beneficiaries and administer the programs more efficiently through online portals.<h2>The Future</h2>Common Sense’ ad campaign has ended, but the call center resources are still available to the public. The Digital Equity Institute and University plan to build on these resources as Arizona rolls out its IIJA Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) and digital equity programs.In the meantime, Common Sense is looking to expand, and partner with&nbsp; other state and local governments, nonprofits, or foundations to replicate a similar program in other areas of the country. It is currently exploring the idea of working with the city of Atlanta, Georgia.Meanwhile, the <a href="https://communitynets.org/content/nationwide-push-address-acp-anemia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">White House held a webinar</a> on Monday, March 13 that further highlighted the work of three other national non-profits’ ACP campaigns: <a href="https://civicnation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Civic Nation</a>, <a href="https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Education SuperHighway</a> and the <a href="https://www.digitalinclusion.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Digital Inclusion Alliance</a>.&nbsp;The groups are launching an “<a href="https://onlineforall.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Online for All</a>” campaign aimed at helping more families enroll in the ACP with similar tools and strategies as described here in Common Sense Media’s campaign.<h2>Key Lessons from Common Sense Media's ACP Campaign in Phoenix:</h2><ul><li>Navigators are essential because many disconnected households lack the skills needed to enroll themselves</li><li>Phone-based support allows households to enroll using familiar devices, in private, and on their own schedule</li><li>Medicaid and SNAP are, by far, the most common enrollment pathways</li><li>2 out of the 5 callers requested Spanish language support</li><li>3 of of the 5 expressed discomfort with technology and/or online forms</li><li>4 out of 5 callers were not previously signed up for Lifeline (or the ACP)</li><li>Navigators are instrumental in collecting anecdotes for advocacy</li></ul><h2>Lessons from the Ad Campaign</h2><ul><li>Digital and TV ads performed best but may benefit from a holistic approach</li><li>~50% of callers only had a smartphone to connect to the internet</li><li>Radio ads were underperforming pre-COVID levels</li><li>A simple, mobile-friendly website is most effective</li><li>Ads with trusted branding and authoritative language performed much better</li><li>QR codes generated very little engagement</li><li>Earlier inclusion of government/transit agencies, utilities, schools and social service programs (which can be slow,) is a cost-efficient way to extend reach.</li><li>Competing ad campaigns (i.e. election campaigns) reduce cost efficiency, so think about when you are going to launch a campaign, and what other entities will be driving up ad prices.&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;&nbsp;

A Common Sense Media pilot campaign in Phoenix, Arizona, quadrupled enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program to 8,500 households a month in a limited amount of time. Here's how they did it. 

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How Common Sense Media deployed activism, media, and a key partnership to drive ACP Adoption in Arizona

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No matter where you go grocery shopping in the United States nowadays, whether it’s the biggest of chain supermarkets to the smallest of mom n’ pop shops, you can count on one thing: nearly all the packaged food that you can buy will have clearly displayed, black and white nutrition labels printed on it listing the calories, total fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, and other ingredients.&nbsp;These standardized nutrition labels were actually created relatively recently as a&nbsp;<a href="https://he.utexas.edu/ntr-news-list/food-labels-history">result of the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act</a>, designed to help consumers make fully informed shopping decisions, and to be able to accurately compare different food products to one another. Nearly all producers of packaged food in the U.S. must comply with these requirements. Now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to apply a similar kind of labeling to a very different product class: Broadband internet plans.&nbsp;The FCC has been working over the last six years on developing a plan for what precise information the new “Broadband Nutrition Labels” would include. There was a vigorous commentary between advocacy groups on how the agency could best help consumers, and how, when, and where providers would be required to display such labels.&nbsp;The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2021 further spurred the process, as it directed the FCC to require standardized broadband plan labels from providers. On November 14, 2022, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-requires-broadband-providers-display-labels-help-consumers">FCC voted to enact them through a new order</a>. There will be some additional modifications pending further commentary, but the basic framework has been established.&nbsp;But high-speed internet plans are very different than food. What exactly is required in the FCC’s new Broadband Nutrition Labels? Which providers must comply? What information must providers display, when, where, and what are the possible penalties for failing to comply? Read on to learn more.In the meantime, Ready.net is working towards helping providers follow the FCC's broadband nutrition facts label requirement. Providers will be able to incorporate the relevant subscriber plan information in a broadband nutrition facts label in our relevant products in the near future.&nbsp;Where did the FCC post the new Broadband Nutrition Label requirements?The full 87-page-long order document detailing all of the new standardized requirements, as well as various rationale and refutations toward organizations challenging the FCC during the public hearings and comment period held over the course of 2022, can be found on various pages on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-requires-broadband-providers-display-labels-help-consumers">the FCC website</a>.&nbsp;The full order is&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-22-86A1.pdf">here</a>.The hearings are available&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/broadbandlabels">here</a>.&nbsp;Who must comply with the Broadband Nutrition Label order?All providers offering fixed and mobile broadband plans for individual consumers and households — that is, any company offering broadband service delivered to a single location, like cable internet installed at your home or apartment from Spectrum or Optimum or smaller local providers, and mobile device plans for phones and tablets, like the 5G service on your smartphone from carrier companies such as AT&amp;T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket Wireless, etc.&nbsp;The notable exception to these requirements is for&nbsp;enterprise service plans: broadband access, fixed or mobile, that is only available to enterprise customers, such as businesses, nonprofits, schools, healthcare facilities, and other organizations. The FCC, for now, says that enterprise internet plans&nbsp;do not&nbsp;have to follow the Broadband Nutrition Labels.&nbsp;So, to review: for example, Verizon FiOS internet plans offered for households&nbsp;must comply with the new Broadband Nutrition Labels, while Verizon FiOS enterprise internet for organizations would&nbsp;not need to comply with them.&nbsp;Importantly,&nbsp;the order applies only to plans currently being offered to new customers and any new plans that may be offered by providers going forward. Older plans that have been discontinued, or current plans that are&nbsp;no longer available to purchase by new customers, do not need to have Broadband Nutrition Labels created for them.&nbsp;&nbsp;Finally, all Broadband Nutrition Labels must be retained by providers for a minimum of two years, according to the FCC.When do providers have to begin posting the Broadband Nutrition Labels?The FCC voted to adopt the new requirements in November 2022 and published a notice of its rulemaking in the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/16/2022-26853/empowering-broadband-consumers-through-transparency">Federal Register on December 16, 2022</a>, with the rule going into effect on January 17, 2023. Nonetheless, the agency is still leaving the door open for replies to its own replies to previous comments until <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/12/16/2022-26853/empowering-broadband-consumers-through-transparency">next week Tuesday, February 14, 2023</a>.&nbsp;Large providers are required to publish their labels within six months. Smaller providers are required to publish their labels within one year ('smaller' providers are defined as those with 100,000 or fewer subscriber lines).&nbsp;Where must providers post their Broadband Nutrition Labels?&nbsp;&nbsp;According to the FCC, providers must display the nutrition labels for any and all available plans on “both ISP websites and any other channels through which their service is sold, including ISP-owned retail locations, third-party owned retail locations, and over the phone.”While the FCC leaves it up to the providers to choose the exact location on their website or physical media to display the Broadband Nutrition Labels, and how large or small the font size is, “providers should ensure that the labels are prominently displayed on any device on which the consumer accesses and views the labels, including mobile devices.”&nbsp;Notably, the FCC says that as soon as a customer provides their service address to any provider or their representatives, the provider should then display the label of any associated plans that are offered at that location.&nbsp;What information must the labels include?&nbsp;Perhaps the most critical piece of information for providers to consider is the actual content of the labels. The labels follow a fairly simple and similar looking format as the FDA food nutrition labels described above, but with different categories, including (in the following order):<ul><li>The provider company’s name at the top</li><li>The name of the particular plan being offered (whether it is a speed name or a brand name like TurboNet, for example)</li><li>Whether it’s a fixed or mobile internet plan</li><li>The plan’s price — including whether it is an introductory rate, and if so, how long that price lasts and what the successive rate will be, and whether it requires a contract, and for what length of time</li><li>Additional charges, including one-time installation fees or equipment fees, early termination fees, and taxes applied</li><li>Discounts offered by bundling the plan with other services (such as TV or phone)</li><li>Whether or not it qualifies as part of the separate Affordable Connectivity Program</li><li>The typical download and upload speeds in megabits-per-second, as well as latency in milliseconds (how long it&nbsp;<a href="https://frontier.com/resources/what-is-network-latency">takes data to transfer</a>)&nbsp;</li><li>The limits on how much data the plan allows the customer to transfer/access every month, and any overage charges (in gigabytes and price-per-gigabytes, respectively)&nbsp;</li><li>Links to network management and privacy policies</li><li>Customer support phone number or website</li><li>A link to the fcc.gov/consumer site</li><li>The plan’s unique identification number</li></ul>What do the new Broadband Nutrition Labels look like?The FCC requires that providers all follow the same format when posting their labels, including the same fields, colors (black and white), and arrangement of information. This is to ensure consumers can accurately compare plans side-by-side. The FCC included the following example format — though note that the red text is simply to show where providers must input their own information in black. Importantly: the order states that the information must be “machine readable,” that is, scannable by a computer program using optical character recognition (OCR), presumably to allow for other apps and software programs to help consumers compare plans.&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Broadband_Nutrition_Label_1_cead8c9e23/Broadband_Nutrition_Label_1_cead8c9e23.png"></figure>What are the penalties for providers that fail to comply with the Broadband Nutrition Label order?&nbsp;The FCC does not specify what fines, fees or penalties providers that do not comply with the Broadband Nutrition Label order will face, instead deferring to its existing authority and enforcement mechanisms.As the order states, “we find that our existing enforcement mechanisms should enable us to enforce our new label requirements, including the accuracy of the label’s content and the sufficiency of its format and display location. We thus will use the identical procedures to enforce the broadband label requirements adopted here.”But what are those “existing enforcement mechanisms” and how would they apply to providers that are accused of running afoul of the labels, either in completeness, accessibility, or accuracy?&nbsp;The FCC has its own Enforcement Bureau that conducts investigations and may issue subpoenas to organizations and individuals accused of violating its requirements. It also has an Investigations &amp; Hearings Division responsible for taking “enforcement actions” against violators, including “forfeiture orders,” essentially a fine, the value of which is “case specific.”In footnotes of the Broadband Nutrition Label order, the FCC notes that penalties for violators should be “sufficient to deter noncompliance,” yet not so minimal “as to constitute a cost of doing business for providers,” suggesting they could be high.&nbsp;How will the FCC evaluate internet service plans to ensure they are complying with the information listed on the labels?The FCC doesn’t state whether it will on its own run any speed or latency tests on providers to ensure they are complying with the information provided in their labels.&nbsp;However, the order states that the agency will accept and investigate individual complaints from consumers “as vigorously as we do other informal complaints.” Consumers can file complaints using the&nbsp;<a href="https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us.">FCC’s existing online forms here</a>.&nbsp;Other enforcement actionsThere’s a possibility that the labels make providers subject to enforcement actions from other government entities, however.&nbsp;For example, state attorneys general across the country have said that they’re investigating providers who have engaged in a number of practices, such as enforcing data caps.Also, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has launched an investigation into Optimum Altice for allegedly misrepresenting its internet services.“The overwhelming number of complaints relate to consumers who have not received advertised speeds for Optimum 300 megabits per second and Optimum 400 megabits per second, cable internet plans they paid for,” Tong&nbsp;<a href="https://ctmirror.org/2022/11/22/ct-optimum-altice-internet-service-investigation/">said</a>.

Providers need to inform new customers what they're receiving for their subscriptions. Here are the facts.

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What the FCC's New Broadband ‘Nutrition Labels’ Require

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Among the many people who could stand to benefit from the $42.45 billion in&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program">Broadband Equity Access Deployment (BEAD)</a> funding currently being awarded to states by the Biden Administration, are a number of residents in rural Washington State, who say cable giants have been so far unwilling or unable to build out reliable, affordable high-speed internet service offerings for them.A new article published this week by local outlets&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbian.com/news/2023/jan/23/can-a-42b-internet-expansion-plan-close-washingtons-digital-divide/">The Columbian</a> and Crosscut zeroes in on several of these residents in particular, describing their struggles to get service.&nbsp;One mother near Elma, a town of 3,400, lives just 75 feet from a connection box, but the report says a Comcast technician estimated the cost to connect her at $1,000-$2,000, which she doesn’t have — forcing her teenage daughter to rely on an unreliable portable hotspot from school and leaving her frustrated and behind on her coursework.&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits/washington/city/elma-broadband-audit">Broadband.Money</a>’s broadband audit of Elma, Washington, shows that the majority of broadband serviceable locations in the town — some 83.4%, are either&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location">unserved</a> (34.3%) or&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/underserved-location">underserved</a> (49.1%), with only 16.6% reliably served.&nbsp;The article’s author traveled with another resident to the parking lot of an elementary school, the only place where he was able to get reliable wireless internet service provided by a local public utility to send work emails from inside his parked vehicle.&nbsp;“To be honest, I started debating, maybe we’re going to have to move…or I’m going to have to get an apartment in town or something,” the resident told the reporter.&nbsp;Washington State does have a number of&nbsp; Public Utility Districts (PUDs) dating back to the 1930s and established by communities to provide them with the new technology at that time: electricity.&nbsp;Today, the PUDs still exist and are applying for broadband and other government funding, but at least eight projects have had their applications rejected after objections from Comcast and Rural Wireless LLC, another existing telecom company.Even those PUDs that have won funding may not be able to use it to build in the state in areas that existing ISPs claim they already provide service, but which residents complain it is nonexistent or spotty. The viable solution seems to require the state government to alter existing regulations that allow ISPs to block new broadband projects by PUDs.Read the full article on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbian.com/news/2023/jan/23/can-a-42b-internet-expansion-plan-close-washingtons-digital-divide/">Colombian here</a>.

Residents of Elma in Washington State struggle to access the internet. Our broadband audit quantifies the town's lack of connectivity.

Columbian and Crosscut zeroes in on residents without access to the internet in Washington State, describing their struggles to get service. 

Report: National incumbents block rural access to internet

A new article published this week by local outlets The Columbian and Crosscut zeroes in on residents without access to the internet in Washington State, describing their struggles to get service. 

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Report: Private Telcos Thwart WA Public Utilities’ Plans For Rural Broadband

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Mike Duggan, the Democratic Mayor of Detroit, Michigan, delivered cautionary words this week to his fellow municipal leaders around the country during the <a href="https://www.usmayors.org/meetings/91st-winter-meeting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting</a> in Washington, D.C.: He urged them to spend the money cities received as part of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/blog/2021/03/10/the-american-rescue-plan-passed-now-what/">the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)</a>, the big COVID-19 economic relief package passed in early 2021, before a potential clawback.&nbsp;“I would say to you that if you can responsibly speed up the obligations, I would say you do want to consider doing it,” Duggan was quoted by the outlet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.route-fifty.com/finance/2023/01/mayors-fret-over-possibility-arpa-clawbacks/381936/">Route Fifty</a>, which also attended the conference. “I hope eight months from now, 10 months from now, 60 months from now, we're not in a big fight to hang on to the obligated money,” he said.The ARPA money was allocated for a wide range of municipal and local projects and relief efforts: specifically&nbsp;<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/capital-projects-fund">$10 billion was earmarked</a> for capital improvements projects, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2021/12/06/how-states-are-using-pandemic-relief-funds-to-boost-broadband-access">broadband expansion</a> to unserved and underserved areas.&nbsp;A year ago this month, the U.S. Treasury Department&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fiercetelecom.com/broadband/more-broadband-projects-eligible-funding-under-new-arpa-rules">relaxed</a> the rules governing the use of the ARPA funds to allow for them to fund even more types of broadband projects, but tightened them in one way: requiring participants to participate in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/acp">Federal Communications Program’s Affordable Connectivity Program</a>, which provides $30-per-month discounts on broadband service to low-income households ($75 on tribal lands).&nbsp;However, merely participating in the ACP does not guarantee individuals will be able to access the internet services they seek:&nbsp;<a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/comcast-accused-of-wrongly-rejecting-customers-from-low-income-internet-offering">Comcast was recently accused of erroneously turning away ACP qualifying customers</a> from some of its low-income offerings in Massachusetts.The ARPA money was supposed to be good to spend through the end of 2026, but Duggan was skeptical it would actually still be available up until that time.&nbsp;Duggan specifically called out federal Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives, who retook the majority in that body following the 2022 midterm elections, and are now seeking major cuts to federal spending — which could put the unused ARPA funds back into the federal coffer.&nbsp;Francis Suarez, the Republican mayor of Miami, reportedly echoed Duggan’s concerns about potential ARPA clawbacks.&nbsp;The city of Detroit has been&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/detroit-residents-to-conduct-their-own-broadband-audit-after-historic-outage">exploring&nbsp;</a>the use of Ready.net’s <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-guides/community-kit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Broadband Kit </a>to land grant funding as it explores the idea of creating its own internet service provision.Broadband.money is an interactive geospatial platform that provides data, mapping, and self-service planning tools to broadband grant applicants and others who need to plan network builds.The platform includes more than 200 public and proprietary data sources. They include: American Community Survey data, the national address database, and more.&nbsp;The platform provides essential insights on broadband serviceable locations, existing network performance, anchor institutions and secondary addresses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the the US territories.&nbsp;Users can customize their views, filter by attributes, identify key stakeholders and create areas of interest for detailed insights and business intelligence analyses.&nbsp;They can use the platform to calculate rough estimates of the economics and grant needs of their target areas before conducting detailed engineering or financial modeling.For more information on how your city can quickly and efficiently create a feasibility study and apply for a grant, contact: sales@ready.net.

Detroit's mayor warns his peers to mind the fallout from Feds' fight over the debt ceiling

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Detroit mayor sounds alarm on rescue plan funds being clawed back

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Are you applying for broadband grant funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program?&nbsp;You’ll need at least a 25% matching funds contribution for grants you seek, along with a <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/letter-of-credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letter of Credit </a>submitted up front with your application.&nbsp;That's the bare minimum. In many cases, states will seek a larger proportional match.This requirement may seem intimidating for many would be grant-seeking broadband providers – especially local, new, and non-traditional providers. But there are many pathways to fulfilling this requirement for strong, growth-minded providers of all shapes and sizes.&nbsp;The matching requirement can even be an opportunity to align with great partners who can help connect more families to better broadband. It’s all a matter of perspective, knowledge, and network.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Untitled_ef142592ee/Untitled_ef142592ee.png"></figure><figure class="image"><img></figure>Many in broadband view matching funds requirements as unfair, obstructionist and political, but the truth is: Matching contributions can be a powerful force multiplier for your project’s outcomes.Help with matching funds is the top request from <a href="http://broadband.money">Broadband.money</a> applicants – 68% of provider applicants look for some kind of help lining up this crucial, elusive ingredient.We even hear about otherwise-strong, skilled, capable providers – many local, many innovative – who are considering sitting out the IIJA BEAD program given the uniquely high bar for matching funds.That’s why we were so excited when <a href="https://www.fiberbroadband.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fiber Broadband Association</a>’s President and CEO Gary Bolton imagined a webinar series to help bridge this knowledge gap.&nbsp;We’re grateful to get to work with Gary and the FBA team in their new series called <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/broadband-grant-events/intro-to-bead-matching-funds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Where’s the Funding</a>? Now providers and applicants can learn how to get matching funds for BEAD grants from experts. Gary generously agreed to make the curriculum open and available to the broadband community. Attendance is free.<h2>When</h2>On the third Wednesday of each month of 2023, an industry expert will lead a 30-minute discussion, including a Q&amp;A session.&nbsp;We’ll kick the series off with Gary in January’s episode, covering the basics of how to get matching funds for broadband grants.<h2>What</h2>In early 2023, the series will dive into matching contribution topics, from broad to advanced. Later in the year, episodes will get into the dedicated, unique needs of specific groups:<ul><li>Internet service providers and BEAD grant-matching funds</li><li>Tribal broadband grant matching funds</li><li>Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) and Telco broadband grant matching funds</li><li>Municipalities – all the flavors and varieties of tools available in the municipal markets</li></ul>Upcoming topics include:<ul><li>Intro to the Capital Stack: What are the pros and cons of different loans? Should you borrow money from private or public sources?</li><li>Intro to Private Funding Sources: Banks, family offices, foundations and more.</li><li>Intro to Public Funding Sources: How might applicants leverage public funding sources?</li><li>Intro to Alternative Sources and Types of Investments</li><li>How to Design a Resilient Capital Stack</li><li>Lining up Matching Funds Efficiently: You don’t need 100 different matching funds providers. Learn how to leverage the funding marketplace – launching mid-2023 – to save time and get multiple offers.</li><li>Navigating the <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/letter-of-credit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Letter of Credit</a>: You have to submit it up front. Where do you start? Once you get offers, now what?</li></ul>Broadband.money exists so providers can get the resources they need to connect more families to better broadband.&nbsp;We strongly encourage attending Where’s The Funding? Learn how to do more with less.<a href="https://login.circle.so/sign_up?request_host=discuss.broadband.money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RSVP for free</a> so you can learn how to <a href="http://broadband.money/wtf " target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">find BEAD matching funds providers</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

If you're applying for an IIJA BEAD grant, you should attend our webinar new "Where’s The Funding?" series, hosted by Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association.  

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Introducing: Where's the Funding?

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Jase Wilson

Lodging a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map means submitting a great deal of data. And while the FCC won’t force anyone to submit challenges, stakeholders – from state governments on down to individual citizens – know the twin challenge processes are the best mechanisms to ensure each state get its fair share of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding.&nbsp;This process is more complicated for Tribal governments, which are independent nations with corresponding rights to data sovereignty. Providing granular challenge data to the FCC, data the agency would legally own, raises concerns for some Tribal leaders.&nbsp;Many Tribal lands lack reliable, affordable service, and BEAD funds could be a game changer. Also, since the FCC’s data is reportedly quite inaccurate on Tribal lands, Tribal challenges are likely to be highly impactful on BEAD allocations.This&nbsp;<a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/doc/tribal-data-sovereignty-presentation.pdf">slide deck</a> from the American Indian Health Commission provides a helpful brush-up on the principles of Tribal data sovereignty.The deck outlines four key principles:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>“Only a Tribe has the sovereign authority to determine how their data may or may not be used.”</li><li>“When a jurisdiction reports on or about American Indian or Alaska native peoples, it should meaningfully partner and consult with Tribal leaders on the analysis and interpretation of the data.”</li><li>“Tribes retain an ownership interest in data, even when the Tribe’s data are located in a state, federal or other dataset. This interest remains when the Tribe’s data are aggregated with other data.”</li><li>“Tribes must have equitable access to data needed to perform their governmental duties.”</li></ul>The deck also notes a few barriers:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>“Exclusion of Tribal nations from decision‐ making/input on federal and state government use of tribal and AI/AN data.”</li><li>“Lack of federal and state data sharing agreements that protect Tribal and AI/AN data and recognize Tribal ownership in data about their Tribe and their people.”</li><li>“Lack of federal and state government mechanisms to provide Tribal nations equitable access to AI/AN data necessary for Tribes to perform their governmental duties.”</li></ul>The deck lists known violations of Tribal data sovereignty as well. A couple examples:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>A state shares Tribal data with national media without permission.</li><li>A state shares Tribal vaccine allocations without permission.</li></ul>Tribal governments, which, again, are sovereign nations, must be dealt with as such by Washington. The FCC seems to have neglected data sovereignty when planning its mapping process, but certainly should reevaluate its policies to mitigate harms going forward.See also these principles of <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/tribal-data-sovereignty" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tribal Data Sovereignty</a>.

Providing granular challenge data to the FCC, data the agency would legally own, raises concerns for some Tribal leaders. 

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FCC broadband data challenges particularly complicated for Tribal nations

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BEAM Director Sally Doty is using old fashioned charm and modern technology to get everyone in her state wired.

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Mississippi’s Broadband Director Sally Doty uses data, charm, and legwork to expose broadband inequities

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The <a href="https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">California Public Utilities Commission </a>(CPUC) the state agency that regulates telecom, power, transportation and other vital sectors, announced Wednesday that it has received $8.96 million in funding grants from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2021, adding to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internetforall.gov/interactive-map">49 other states and territories</a> that have received money from the Infrastructure bill’s total pot of $65 billion to expand broadband.This is the latest&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/california-receives-9-million-in-federal-grants-for-digital-equity-and-last-mile">broadband funding news</a> the regulatory agency shared this week on top of its&nbsp;<a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/california-public-utilities-commission-awards-8m-for-expanding-broadband-to-unserved-areas">December 19 announcement</a>. State legislators have already budgeted $6.5 billion to roll out affordable broadband across the state.The funds will power twin initiatives that broadband expansion <a href="https://broadband.money/blog/infrastructure-inextricably-linked-to-digital-equity-and-broadband-mapping" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">experts say </a>are crucial to develop in tandem:&nbsp;<ol><li>$4.9 million is designated to plan California’s&nbsp;implementation of the infrastructure law's <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program">Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)</a> grant program for a range of broadband access expansion activities, including:<ol><li>“Identifying unserved and underserved locations</li><li>Planning and increasing capacity of the state broadband programs&nbsp;</li><li>Developing a sub-grantee program for last-mile broadband deployment&nbsp;</li><li>Supporting the development of a 5-year action plan”</li></ol></li></ol>In October,&nbsp; CPUC President Alice Busching Reynolds said during a webinar that the agency wants "a big tent approach" as it develops the required five-year plan for spending BEAD funding. More than 2 million Californians don’t have access to the internet, Chief Information Officer Liana Bailey-Crimmins said during the webinar, and it’s those people who should be involved in the planning process.&nbsp;The other funding initiative is:<ol><li>A $4 million grant administered by the California Department of Technology (CDT) to further develop the State Digital Equity Plan, which will engage “local and regional stakeholders”&nbsp;</li></ol>Finally, as part of this effort, CPUC says CDT will conduct a statewide survey that aims to reach 11,000 respondents across California’s 58 counties via phone, online, and in-person interviews, focusing on areas that already have broadband coverage, from which CDT wants to better understand “barriers to digital equity.”&nbsp;Broadband.money has&nbsp;the <a href="https://broadband.money/how-it-works">tools and data</a> you need to create detailed broadband grant proposals that will make a real impact in your community.&nbsp;Identify&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits">unserved and underserved locations</a>, as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals">map assets across your service area&nbsp;</a>to catalogue high-speed Internet service adoption, affordability, equity, access and deployment.&nbsp;Check out our <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">California broadband audit</a>. According to our data, California has 14,383,328 broadband serviceable locations, 535,597 of which are unserved and 5,899,139 are underserved, as defined by the infrastructure legislation's criteria.Contact&nbsp;us.&nbsp;

California receives an additional $9 million for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) program grant funding and digital equity

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California receives nearly $9M for BEAD funding and digital equity planning

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A coalition of more than 100 schools, libraries, housing groups and the Kansas Office of Broadband Development <a href="https://www.educationsuperhighway.org/announcements/national-broadband-map/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">asked</a> the Federal Communications Commission's Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Tuesday to pause the challenge process for its broadband map and re-think the way it accounts for multi-dwelling units such as apartment buildings and community anchor institutions.&nbsp;“We hope the FCC will do this on its own, but we're garnering support from the Senate side,” said Scott Quinn, <a href="https://www.educationsuperhighway.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Education Superhighway</a>'s director of government affairs and policy in an interview.&nbsp;The coalition's communication was spearheaded by the national non-profit Education SuperHighway and the <a href="https://www.shlb.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schools, Health &amp; Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition</a>.Currently, the <a href="https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">FCC's broadband map</a> may only count one broadband serviceable location for a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) when there may be hundreds of families living in an apartment building. Both the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have asked the public and states to fact-check its map by submitting challenges. The deadline for the challenges is January 13th.&nbsp;The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) grant funding is allocated based on the number of unserved and underserved broadband serviceable locations each state has as a proportion of the rest of the country's locations. So millions of dollars that are meant to go towards closing the digital divide are at stake. &nbsp;The FCC's map is composed of self-reported data from ISPs. The coalition says that it's unfair to place the burden of proving ISP's claims wrong on low-income families living in apartment buildings.“It is naive and unfair to assume that millions of unserved households located in high-poverty areas will be able to mount a successful broadband availability challenge, especially in the limited amount of time that the FCC has allotted to submit challenges that can be taken into consideration by NTIA in the BEAD and [Digital Equity] allocation process,” wrote Evan Marwell, Education SuperHighway's founder and CEO and John Windhausen, the SHLB coalition's CEO.&nbsp;The leaders also worried about the FCC map's lack of accounting of broadband serviceable locations to community anchor institutions – especially to smaller schools, libraries and hospitals that don't subscribe to “enterprise” broadband services.&nbsp;The coalition pointed out that the map's approach conflicts with one of the conclusions of its' own reports and orders issued in January 2021.It also pointed out that the FCC map's current approach doesn't square with the IIJA's instruction that anchor institutions that don't subscribe to gigabit broadband networks should be considered “unserved” and thus eligible for BEAD grants.&nbsp;The coalition wants the FCC to assume that all MDUs are unconnected, and to make service providers submit challenges that include an accurate unit count, highest available speeds available to those units, unit-by-unit connectivity status, and and an accounting for the “total actual capacity currently provisioned to the building accounting for both infrastructure type and premise equipment and hardware, and artifacts proving that ALL units within a building have the infrastructure necessary to simultaneously qualify as connected (100/20Mbps) or under-connected (25/3Mbps), as defined by the IIJA.”&nbsp;The coalition also wants the FCC's map to automatically designate by default anchor institutions as broadband serviceable locations unless an ISP can show otherwise. And it wants the FCC to ensures that its focuses on MDUs wth high proportions of unserved housholds and those with household incomes that are at or below 150 percent of the poverty line, as specified in the <a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/BEAD%20NOFO.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTIA's BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity</a>. &nbsp;The coalition noted in its letter that up to a quarter of unconnected households in the United States live in public and multi-family housing, and these are often constitute the lowest income families.Ready.net/Broadband.money's subscribers can <a href="https://ready.net/blog/announcing-serviceable-location-level-insights-secondary-addresses-and-anchor-institution-data-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">use our mapping data</a> to map secondary addresses found at MDUs and anchor institutions. This data can be use to challenge the FCC's map, which the FCC calls “fabric.”&nbsp;

A coalition of more than 100 schools, libraries, housing groups asked the FCC Chairwoman to rethink how its broadband map accounts for apartment dwellers and community institutions

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Coalition calls for FCC  to rethink how it maps MDUs and Community Anchor Institutions

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Some people who have challenged the accuracy of the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map are being met with an unpleasant surprise: After completing the process, they’ve discovered that the FCC’s map publishes their submission online without first informing them prominently that it had planned to do so.&nbsp;“I submitted a challenge for my house which included my name, address, and a contact number. As I was filling out the form there was no heads-up this was going to be published verbatim on the map. Now when I search for my address I can pull up the whole thing, in all its personally-identifiable glory. I can see my neighbors' challenges, too, though they had the foresight to not give their identities away,” wrote the individual, whose identity won’t be disclosed for obvious reasons. (The individual gave permission to share this experience.)&nbsp;“It sure seems like the challenge form should have in big flashing letters: "the whole internet will be able to see what you're about to write here". What if someone included their Comcast account number? Someone with far too much time on their hands could do bad things,”&nbsp;The FCC only discloses that it “may” publish the details of your individually-submitted challenge information&nbsp;publicly online&nbsp;in its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/privacy">BDC Privacy Act Statement.</a>&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/bbm-public-bucket/Challlenge_Privacy_Act_Disclaimer_fa43b00fbb/Challlenge_Privacy_Act_Disclaimer_fa43b00fbb.png"></figure>That’s a hyperlink at the very bottom of its “Privacy Act Statement” at the bottom of the challenge form. It’s something that most people are unlikely to click on.That's in contrast to many state broadband map collection efforts, which often shield internet service providers and others from disclosing their business and service subscription information from public disclosure. And unlike the FCC's fabric map, do not make any ownership claims on the information.&nbsp;State broadband offices can take the lead on this issue when asking their residents to submit challenge information by collecting the information in bulk and then submitting the information in bulk to the FCC.&nbsp;For example, the office of <a href="https://broadbandms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi</a> doesn't collect people's names when collecting challenge information. Neither does the Washington State University Extension, which is helping the Washington State broadband office collect crowdsourced data to <a href="https://www.commerce.wa.gov/building-infrastructure/washington-statewide-broadband-act/fcc-broadband-mapping/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">assist with bulk challenges to the FCC Broadband Map</a>.Federal privacy law requires the federal government to tell citizens what information it collects about them and how it uses it. That’s the reason that the FCC’s broadband map comes with the Privacy Act statement attached.&nbsp;The FCC's map also comes with a number of other types of disclaimers, such as the fact that you, as the submitter of the information, are allowing “the FCC to retain full, unlimited rights to any information and/or data submitted to the FCC,” as well as to a third-party vendor.&nbsp;A FCC spokesperson did not respond to a query about these clauses. Broadband.money can help states to gather challenge information with its community broadband kit and cloud-based software system.&nbsp;

Some people who have challenged the accuracy of the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband map are being met with an unpleasant surprise: After completing the process, they’ve discovered that the FCC’s map publishes their submission online without first informing them prominently that it had planned to do so. 

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Skip privacy worries with with batch map challenges

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Ready.net, Inc. is pleased to announce that Shannan Williams-Mitchem has joined the company as Director of Community Outreach and Research as of November 14.Williams-Mitchem joins us from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), where she was appointed as Deputy Director of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives in the administration’s Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OIGC). NTIA is an agency within the Department of Commerce.While at NTIA, Williams-Mitchem helped lead the management of the Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) pilot program—a $265 million investment in expanding broadband access to minority serving institutions and their anchor communities. &nbsp;She served a pivotal role in streamlining the CMC applicant review and selection processes, developing outreach plans to engage stakeholders, and supporting the development of research plans and recommendations.In her leadership role at NTIA, Williams-Mitchem was a firm advocate for greater engagement within unserved and underserved communities of color in meeting NTIA’s goals for digital equity through engagement with trusted partners, local service providers and community anchor institutions.At Ready, Williams-Mitchem is thrilled to join a highly skilled and innovative team that is building technological tools to address the critical issue of broadband access and digital equity.“Ready.net’s tools are a game changer for communities in bridging the digital divide. I’m so excited to share these amazing tools and to be a part of a team innovating at warp speed to make real and tremendous change,” she said.Williams-Mitchem will support Ready's nationwide <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband Audit</a> mapping system and the <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-guides/community-kit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Broadband Kit </a>to states and localities.She will also support Ready’s work with state broadband offices and local governments, and she’ll lead partnerships with institutions interested in using Ready’s data platform. She’ll be there to help them to obtain deep insights into underserved and unserved communities so that they can ensure equitable distribution of the historic federal funding opportunities.Prior to her time at NTIA, Williams-Mitchem worked for nearly 10 years at the <a href="https://www.nist.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Institute of Standards and Technology</a> (NIST), a sister agency to NTIA within Commerce. At NIST, she led high profile research and standards reform initiatives in the Special Programs Office.She gained invaluable change management and business development skills as an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, a management consulting firm. She also has experience working directly in state and local governments, having worked for the State of Maryland and serving as a Mayoral Fellow for the City of Chicago.Williams-Mitchem is a graduate of the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She obtained her Master’s in Public Policy with a concentration in Urban Economic Development in 2009. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County graduating Magna Cum Laude and as a Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar in 2007.

Williams-Mitchem joins us from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she was Deputy Director of the Office of Minority Broadband Initiatives

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NTIA Leader Shannan Williams-Mitchem joins Ready.net as Director of Research

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Utah has long been a pioneer in broadband planning. The state has its own broadband map and State Broadband Office Director Rebecca Dilg has<a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2022/08/states-are-making-their-own-broadband-maps-to-challenge-the-fccs-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> said</a> that it plans to use its map to "challenge location-level coverage claims in the cases of multi-dwelling buildings where federal maps would claim a location is served without considering multi-tenant living situations," according to Broadband Breakfast.&nbsp;The Biden administration announced late November that it is awarding $5.6 million to the state to enable it to plan for the flood of Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding expected to come its way.&nbsp;Like most other states, Utah will receive $100 million. But will also receive a proportion of federal funding depending on the number of unserved (under 25/3 Mbps) and underserved (under 100/20 Mbps) locations as defined by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.&nbsp;Broadband.money <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/utah" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">estimates </a>that this will vary between $397.8 M - $416.7 Million.The Biden administration, for its part, estimates that the planning grants help Dilg's office to:<ul><li>Identify unserved and underserved locations;</li><li>Train employees of Utah’s broadband program and increase office capacity;</li><li>Map and catalogue high-speed Internet service adoption, affordability, equity, access and deployment across the state</li><li>Develop the “All Utah, All Online” project, a five-year action plan supported by the precise assessment of current Internet service speeds and a better understanding of barriers.</li></ul><h3>Digital Equity</h3>As the Biden administration's National Telecommunications and Information Administration says itself: "The Digital Equity Act provides $2.75 billion to establish three grant programs to ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy.&nbsp;The first part of NTIA’s execution of the Digital Equity Act is to fund digital equity planning efforts."Utah will receive $676,684.53 to fund various activities including:<ul><li>Development of a statewide digital equity plan;</li><li>Building digital access program capacity;</li><li>Provision of funding to create local digital equity plans.</li></ul>Broadband.money can help you win your region's fair share of funding to get everyone connected.We have the <a href="https://broadband.money/how-it-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tools and data</a> you need to create detailed broadband grant proposals that will make a real impact in your community.&nbsp;Identify <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unserved and underserved locations</a>, as well as <a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-grant-portals" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">map assets across your service area </a>to catalogue high-speed Internet service adoption, affordability, equity, access and deployment.&nbsp;We have the tools to help you develop a 5-year action plan supported by the precise assessment of current Internet service speeds, as<a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/BEAD%20NOFO.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> required </a>by the IIJA.Find out more. Contact <a href="mailto:inquiries@broadband.money" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">us</a>.&nbsp;

Utah, long a broadband pioneer, wins $5.6 million in a BEAD planning grant 

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Utah lands $5.6 million in "Internet for All" planning grants

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“You can't get there from here.”That’s what residents of Maine (particularly those in Northern Maine) say in a heavy accent when asked for driving directions.Well&nbsp;<a href="mailto:abutcher@maineconnectivity.org">Andrew Butcher</a>’s goal, as president of the <a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maine Connectivity Authority</a>, is to actually get sufficient bits “there, from here,” for all of the state’s residents.&nbsp;In fact, it’s been his prime goal for the past three years as director of the <a href="https://www.mainebroadbandcoalition.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maine Broadband Coalition</a>, where in 2020 he co-lead a successful campaign to persuade voters to borrow $15 million to fund broadband expansion. He and the coalition then went on to develop the legislation that ultimately created the MCA, which Governor Janet Mills and the state legislature signed off on through the<a href="http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0477&amp;item=4&amp;snum=130">&nbsp;Connectivity Infrastructure Act</a>&nbsp;in June 2021.&nbsp;The state established the terms of statewide broadband deployment funded by the $129 million from two rounds of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. (The state has also received $21 million from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Program, and it expects to receive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/all-in">up to $300 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act</a>.)Butcher’s work at the Maine Broadband Coalition has been about empowering Mainers with solutions to get everyone connected, and particularly using technology as their secret weapon.<h3>From building community gardens in Pittsburgh to community broadband in Maine</h3>Butcher became MCA's president in early January 2022, when the state legislature confirmed his appointment. This puts him in charge of organizing the state’s efforts to parcel out all these funds.&nbsp;He has spent his career working to help local communities. He returned to Maine from Pittsburgh five years ago, where he ran an economic development organization he co-founded called <a href="https://groundedpgh.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grounded Strategies</a>. The non-profit focused on re-development as a platform for community regeneration. He was pretty busy: The city had 30,000 vacant lots at one point as a result of a 60 percent decline in the city’s population over the decades. When he moved, he was working with Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Postal Service on repurposing U.S. postal facilities, again, to help local communities. That led him to work with the cities of Lewiston and Portland, and the <a href="https://www.mainetechnology.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maine Technology Institute</a>.“It was not quite what drew me to Maine,” he said during a Zoom interview. “Maine drew me be close to the places and people that I love. I have family here, and I spent a good amount of my formative life coming here in the summertime - and have always dreamed of living here.”Having led the coalition for three years, Butcher is familiar with the protocol of coordinating with local communities and governments to roll out broadband networks. The Maine Broadband Coalition is the primary network of local communities, government agencies, service providers and technology companies working to bring universal, affordable and reliable internet access to the state.&nbsp;<h3>Empowering Mainers with solutions for broadband</h3>The coalition, now with full-time staff, still runs a very informative newsletter and set of programming that keeps stakeholders informed and connected, and reminds people when they can meet on a regular basis every Friday to talk about Broadband.&nbsp;“Informed and equipped people can be really effective in designing their own solutions,” Butcher told me from his home office over Zoom earlier this year. “They understand the problems better than anyone else, and they have the resourcefulness and capability to design their own solutions – and that’s true whether you’re building a community garden, like I did in Pittsburgh, or whether you’re building out broadband infrastructure, like we are in Maine”This belief is why he pushes for community engagement, capacity building and education. These things can help the community inform network builders and service providers what they really want.&nbsp;“We will continue to invest in the community-driven planning process, and we will try to incentivize regional-scale activities through utility districts where communities want to come together in that way.”&nbsp;In the past, several communities in Maine have banded together to form broadband utility districts to share the costs of running broadband to their homes.&nbsp;But that’s not the only way the state is going to expand broadband.&nbsp;<h3>Going All In and Getting Everyone Connected By 2024</h3>The relatively small state of 1.4 million inhabitants has had one of the most organized and coherent broadband strategies in the nation.&nbsp;During 2022, the MCA established what it calls its <a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/all-in" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">All-In Program</a>. The plan is to build broadband to more than 30,000 homes in rural and remote areas.&nbsp;That process will unfold, as required by the IIJA, in conjunction with the development of a statewide<a href="https://www.maineconnectivity.org/digital-equity">&nbsp;Digital Equity</a> and 5-Year Broadband Masterplan. The MCA opened up&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/here-are-the-key-dates-for-Maine-broadband-grant-opportunities">the grant application process</a> for its various programs this fall. And it issued a Request for Proposals for partners to help it create a digital equity plan in November. The deadline for applications is December 16, 2022.&nbsp;The state also wanted to create an entity like a public power authority so that it can be creative with financing, Butcher said. The authority might, for example, issue bonds or make equity investments. That would make it possible for the authority to own and operate its own infrastructure and enter public-private partnerships. Butcher did not commit to doing any of that since there are federal restrictions on some of these kinds of activities, but he said that it’s good to be able to have “all options on the table.”&nbsp;The state’s plans say that the MCA’s goal is to get a broadband connection to anyone who wants one by the end of 2024.&nbsp;<h3>Maine’s secret weapon</h3>One of the tools that has helped Maine plan its networks and win a Broadband Infrastructure Project Grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration was its Broadband Intelligence Platform, Butcher said. Maine developed the tool with Vetro Fiber and Tilson Technology. It aggregates self-reported ISP network data with speed test information, among other things.&nbsp;“In 2021, the Platform allowed for us to rebut over 1200 challenges to the 15,000 locations that [service providers claimed were already served] that were submitted in our proposal,” he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Butcher has spent 2022 establishing an impressive, team to manage all of this. When we spoke with him in April, he was looking to hire 15 people on top of the three full-time staff the MCA already had. The profile of the team is the envy of many other state offices and is composed of numerous leaders from a diversity of places and sectors around the state.&nbsp; Additionally the MCA has an diverse array of partners ranging lawyers from the Harvard Law School <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/clinics/in-house-clinics/cyberlaw-clinic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cyberlaw Clinic</a>, to the <a href="https://roux.northeastern.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roux Institute</a> at Northeastern to the State Department of Transportation. They are helping the MCA create a middle mile strategy, and a business plan, as well as a financing guide for broadband utility districts. The lawyers are also helping the authority with compliance issues tied to grant funding to build networks from a variety of funding streams.&nbsp;Butcher had these words for providers interested in serving communities in Maine:&nbsp;“ISPs need to be able to engage with regional partnerships in a meaningful way. We also believe in a competitive market space that advances the diversity of options for consumers.&nbsp;“We also believe in being as efficient and judicious with use of public funding as possible, and certainly want to minimize inefficiencies or overbuild, as some people might call it. And so, it's hard for us to know what would be overbuilt if we don't know where people are going to be building. So information sharing and data sharing will be paramount to making sure that we know what is being planned for and how we can complement it, how we can augment it.”

Butcher’s work at the Maine Broadband Coalition is about empowering Mainers with solutions to get everyone connected

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