In this interview from Broadband Nation Expo, Nokia’s Lori Adams, VP of Broadband Policy and Funding Strategy, and David Eckard, VP of Broadband Partners, sit down to share key insights on the progress of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program.
Backed by $42.5 billion in federal investment, the program is part of a major $100 billion investment effort in the post-pandemic era that aims to connect every underserved area in the country with high-speed internet using U.S.-manufactured technology.
Here, Adams and Eckard highlight how Nokia is playing a key role in making this happen.
They discuss how the company is working with both public and private partners to roll out networks that work for everyone, highlighting the need for a range of connectivity solutions – from wired and wireless to fiber – to tackle varied connectivity challenges.
As the conversation progresses, a particularly strong spotlight is shone on the obstacles facing rural communities.
“The biggest barrier to broadband deployment in rural areas was funding. And now that is not the issue. The issue, however, is that you still have to apply for the funding and obtain the funding and then manage a grant-funded network,” Adams explains.
Nokia has been really focused on bridging gaps to deployment, making its product portfolio more accessible and consumable for small operators.
“The technology that some of the largest operators around the world have access to, we're now making it available to some of the smaller operators all across this country,” Eckard adds.
This is a discussion that truly offers unique insights into how the BEAD Program is coming to fruition. Watch the interview to learn more.
Lori Adams:
Hi. I'm Lori Adams. I'm the vice president of Broadband Policy and Funding Strategy for Nokia and the Network Infrastructure Group.
David Eckard:
And I'm David Eckard. I'm the VP of Broadband Partners for Nokia. We're here these next two days to talk about the great technology that we're actually bringing to the market. So, here on the table, we actually have a number of different devices we call Beacons. These are the whole-home WiFi devices. We also have ONTs that are integrated with those WiFi devices as well. So, again, incredible technology, great radio technology, great performance, and again, bringing these type products to the market and talking about us for all those who are looking to build the best broadband in this country.
Lori Adams:
For the last several years, and I'll talk a moment about the government-funded programs, which is really why we're at this event in particular. So, there's a hundred billion dollars of funding being pushed into the marketplace by the federal government. The biggest of these programs is called the BEAD Program, which has $42.5 billion, and it's designed to reach every single un-served and underserved location in the United States. It is a program that's being pushed out through the States, and we are supporting customers, we are supporting the states with technology guidance, with products that are now made in America, which is one of the mandates of the BEAD Program, that there needs to be U.S. manufacturing to support government-funded programs.
And so, last year with the vice president and the secretary of commerce, we announced we were the first to announce that we were manufacturing products for the BEAD Program. So, we are here today on the eve of really the first sub-awards being issued by the States to providers where this money is finally starting to be distributed. We're almost there. We're not quite, but we're almost there.
David Eckard:
When you look at the BEAD Program, look at broadband, it's very much a fiber-first type of technology goal that many of the different states and actually even operators are looking to deploy. But again, Nokia is also a mobile company or a wireless company. So, we actually have an incredible array of fixed wireless products that we actually are supporting here in the U.S. And again, as operators look to go into their toolbox to be able to go deploy the next-generation broadband networks, they want to actually have a vendor that can actually help them, whether it's wireless or wired or fiber. They actually have that toolbox available to them.
Nokia has an incredible portfolio of different types of products, I mean, as I mentioned, from fixed wireless to WiFi inside the home. And again, this is the strength of what Nokia has to offer to the industry as a whole. It is a very large portfolio, different types of products to truly solve any type of connectivity challenges you're going to have. And so, one of the things we're out demonstrating here today is, again, if you look at the ... We talked about the last mile. This is the last 10, 20, 50 feet inside the home. And again, these WiFi products are what ... We set ourselves apart from other vendors where, again, the technology we actually have in these devices really special because, again, it's not just about the chips and the stuff that's inside of it. It's about how you put them all together, how you put the radios together, how you put the antennas together.
And again, the different types of boxes, while they may look very sleek, they're actually very much purpose-built to maximize the performance and to drive the cost out of these devices. And so, that's what we're very proud of is that, again, whether it's WiFi Five or WiFi Six, and now with WiFi Seven coming aboard, our customers, the industry as a whole, actually, has access to the best technology for their deployment.
If you look at these devices, I mean, just the shape and the size of these devices, it's about the placement of the antennas. It's about how the performance, and again, it's not just putting a bunch of chips in a box and saying, "Here you go." It's truly being able to design for the purpose of performance, and that's what we do. And again, all the years of radio design and technology that we've developed across the entire company has been put into these type of devices for our customers.
Lori Adams:
So, the hundred billion dollars of federal government funding is unprecedented. Right? Before the pandemic people really struggled. The biggest barrier to broadband deployment in rural areas was funding. And now that is not the issue. The issue, however, is that you still have to apply for the funding and obtain the funding and then manage a grant-funded network. And nothing from the government, there's no such thing as free money. Right? So, this really provides an opportunity, though, to reach those hardest-to-reach un-served areas and push into farming communities and singular locations around the country that have really struggled for that broadband connectivity that is so essential for work and personal life.
David Eckard:
The other thing that Nokia has done over the past a couple years is that we've actually really engaged with many rural operators. So, all this funding, as Lori's talked about, is coming about. This is being targeted for those rural operators. And one of the things that we've done and made a tremendous amount of investments is really making your product portfolio more accessible, more consumable for small operators. I mean, they have very unique different use cases and different types of topologies and different types of configurations and so forth.
And what we've done is we've actually worked with our partners, our go-to-market partners and so forth, to really help deliver the best solution. The technology that some of the largest operators around the world have access to, we're now making it available to some of the smaller operators all across this country. So, it's not about ... We want to make sure that none of the small operators, the rural operators, those who have traditionally been left behind, they actually have access to the best technology that can be provided.