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No ISPs have yet been awarded federal BEAD program funds for expansion projects. One expert expects that to change soon.

By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities

Three years after the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (BEAD) program was passed into law money has still not flowed to internet service providers (ISPs) for broadband expansion projects.

That revelation was reported in a recent post by Nathan Smith, the director of Connected Nation’s economic and policy divisions, on Connected Nation’s website.

According to Smith, BEAD funds will begin reaching states soon.

“State broadband offices are now in the driver’s seat, and some of them are moving forward strongly,” Smith wrote.

In the post, Smith also said the BEAD rollout “has been a bit slower in practice than anticipated at every stage.”

Additionally, Smith blamed “the inherent difficulty of joint federal-state planning” for the program’s slow rollout. But he also pointed out that the same factor that slowed the program down also provides one of its strengths.

“In some ways, the slow BEAD rollout facilitated coordination among different federal programs. In 2021, there was already a glut of federal funding flowing into rural broadband,” Smith wrote. “RDOF was underway, and CPF was launching. But now, CPF will be near to sunsetting, and the RDOF buildouts should be well on the way to completion by the time BEAD funds start to flow.”

Several upcoming key deadlines pointed to included Nov. 30, when Virginia closes their window for prequalification applications, and December 5, when BEAD application windows close in Wyoming and Kansas.

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