- The Washington Times dinged the BEAD program for taking too long to connect people to broadband
- Then Elon Musk, who won't receive any BEAD funds, chimed in with the dinging
- Gary Bolton with the Fiber Broadband Association said BEAD is progressing fairly quickly
An article in the Washington Times yesterday dinged the Biden administration over the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. According to the news outlet, it’s taking way too long for people to get connected to fiber broadband via BEAD.
And on his social media platform X, Elon Musk chimed in, saying, “This government program is an outrageous waste of taxpayer money and is utterly failing to serve people in need.”
Of course, Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service provides broadband to people in rural locations, so he has a competitive interest in dinging BEAD, which will bring superior fiber broadband technology to rural locales.
As far as the dinging goes, those in the industry who have been following BEAD from the beginning are well aware that fiber networks don’t get deployed overnight. And it’s been a process to approve the BEAD project, get state broadband offices in place, develop systems at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to distribute the funds, work with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to determine unserved broadband locations, and on and on.
BEAD and red tape
Considering the sheer magnitude of the project, things are progressing at a steady clip, and everyone expects actual fiber broadband projects to begin rolling out in 2025.
But the Washington Times wrote that senators have repeatedly written to NTIA to complain about requirements related to labor, climate change, and diversity, equity and inclusion that they said were added to the BEAD program after it was signed into law and which they claim are miring the program in red tape.
Gary Bolton, CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, said he wasn’t sure what climate change requirements the Washington Times was referring to. In terms of the labor force, he said BEAD projects will be comprised of both union and non-union labor, and the projects will pay “the prevailing wage” as directed by the statute enacted by Congress, which established BEAD.
“I think considering the magnitude of the project and following the statute, things are moving pretty quickly,” said Bolton. “NTIA has also addressed a lot of concerns.”
He noted that NTIA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) “largely got it right,” but there have been a few things to iron-out after publication of the NOFO, including the Buy America requirements and rules about ISPs matching their funding grants.
He said the initial letter of credit requirement also got a lot of push-back from service providers who thought it was too burdensome. And the NTIA listened and provided waivers.
“Anytime you’re handing out federal money, there are strings attached. They don’t just hand out money and have no expectations of compliance,” he added.