BEAD

Content tagged with "BEAD"

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Mecklenburg Co-Op Celebrates 7,500 Fiber Customer Milestone

Mecklenburg Elec Coop logo
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Empower Broadband, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virginia-based Mecklenburg Electrical Cooperative, says it has successfully deployed affordable fiber access to more than 7,500 subscribers across long-neglected and underserved portions of the Old Dominion state.

Mecklenburg Coop, created in 1938, serves 31,000 residential and business electrical customers across portions of nine Southside Virginia counties and five northern North Carolina counties. Like many cooperatives, Mecklenburg and Empower are leveraging generations-old experiences at rural electrification to migrate into the broadband business.

In 2022, the coop broke ground on a $154 million initiative to bring high-speed internet to 14,634 unserved and underserved locations in Halifax, Mecklenburg, and the southern portions of Charlotte and Brunswick counties. As of today, the Mecklenburg fiber network consists of 2,900 miles of fiber and passes by 23,443 locations, with additional expansion planned.

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Driving Towards Better Broadband, Maine Buckles Up For Difficult Road Ahead

MCA President Andrew Butcher sits in side door of his yellow Volkswagen van with red canoe on roof
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Maine Connectivity Authority President Andrew Butcher has his 1984 yellow Volkswagen van – affectionately known as “Buttercup” – all gassed up and ready to barnstorm across Maine this week.

Butcher and his team will visit libraries, community centers, town halls, Tribal governments, connectivity hubs, and telehealth locations all across the Pine Street State as state broadband officials and local connectivity champions celebrate the broadband expansion work that’s already been done and to gather “local insights (for) the next phase of work.”

The five-day “Driving Connections” tour will highlight broadband infrastructure investments the state has made to bring high-speed Internet access to 86,000 homes and businesses over the past several years.

MCA President Andrew Butcher seated in back of yellow Volkswagen van with a laptop on his lap smiling at camera

But, perhaps more crucial to the mission: the tour also aims to rally state leaders and local communities to continue the work, even as the Trump administration “terminated” the Digital Equity Act last month and more recently drastically altered the infrastructure-focused BEAD program – both of which have undermined state’s efforts to expand Internet connectivity and eliminate barriers to broadband adoption.

“It feels like an important time to show how we are connected to each other in more ways than just high-speed Internet connections,” Butcher told ILSR in the days leading up to the tour.

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Monahans, Texas Builds Its Own ‘Labor Of Love’ Fiber Network

A group of Hosted America employees celebrate ribbon cutting
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Tired of the high prices, spotty coverage, and slow speeds of regional monopoly broadband providers, the remote West Texas city of Monahans has spent the last decade taking matters into their own hands.

Now, thanks to hard work, determination, and local philanthropy, the city’s 7,500 residents are headed for the right side of the digital divide.

Carroll Faulkner, who consulted with the city on its project, and Teresa Burnett, executive director of the Monahans Chamber of Commerce, told ILSR the project to bring Monahans into the modern era has been a challenging labor of love.

It has recently culminated in the completion of the first phase of the project, bringing affordable fiber to around 2,000 residents in city 36 miles southwest of Odessa.

oil rig behind a wired fence in Sandhills State Park

“We are very passionate about this project,” Burnett told ILSR. “It's been a lot of ups and downs, and it's been 10 long years.”

The city’s network build is in partnership with Hosted America, which is acting as the first last mile ISP serving residents, and View Capital’s American Fiber Infrastructure Fund, which technically owns the finished network. Hosted America enjoys early exclusive usage of the network, but the duo say the network will ultimately be open access, allowing numerous partners.

Phase one of the network plan was completed roughly a year ago, bringing affordable fiber for the first time ever to around 2,000 locals. The full cost of phase one was expected to be around $4.5 million, said Faulkner, of which around $1 million was funded by the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The remainder of the funding was obtained from View Capital and a coalition of philanthropic organizations.

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Pennywise, Pound Foolish: Inside the BEAD Program’s Latest Shakeup - Episode 651 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

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In this Monday edition of the podcast, Chris sits down again with Evan Feinman, former BEAD Director at NTIA, to unpack the fallout from the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to the BEAD program.

Feinman calls out the decision to prioritize short-term cost savings over long-term infrastructure, arguing that these policy shifts will slow progress, drive up monthly bills, and ultimately leave rural communities behind.

From satellite subsidies to the sidelining of fiber, they explore why the new guidance undermines state-level planning, threatens broadband quality, and may betray the very voters it claims to help.

This show is 40 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license

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BEAD Overhauled | Connect This! Show

Connect This! Show
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Catch an emergency episode of the Connect This! Show, with host Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) joined by Lori Adams (Nokia), Heather Mills (Tilson), and Blair Levin (Brookings) to talk about the raft of fundamental changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Act (BEAD) announced by NTIA last Friday. States are required to rebuild and resubmit their proposals to the federal agency on a 90-day sprint after making core changes just as money for construction was about to go out the door.

Join us live on June 9th at 4pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

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BEAD: No NOFO Fo Sho - Episode 650 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

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In this episode of the podcast, Chris welcomes back Gigi Sohn, Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate, for a fast-paced reaction to recent testimony by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

They dig into the political motivations behind the BEAD program’s freeze, the misleading justifications around climate and affordability requirements, and the sweeping changes that could derail state broadband plans. 

Gigi brings sharp insight to a frustrating moment in broadband policy, explaining why the clock is ticking and who’s paying the price for the delay.

This show is 37 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license

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Trump Administration Imposed BEAD Changes Introduce Significant New Delays

An electronic sign on highway reads: "Expect Delays"
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Trump administration changes to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program are poised to introduce years of potential new delays to the already slow-moving program, potentially undermining the program’s goal of bringing universal broadband access to mostly rural communities.

Worse, the looming changes would eliminate efforts to ensure taxpayer-funded broadband is affordable for low-income Americans, while driving billions in new subsidies to the world’s richest man and Trump mega donor Elon Musk.

Testifying this week before a Senate Appropriations Committee, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will "soon" issue a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that states will have 90 days to respond to.

The revisions will ensure that billionaire Elon Musk – and his capacity-constrained satellite broadband network Starlink – will receive significantly more taxpayer money. Such Low-Earth orbit satellite networks were slated to get some funds, but federal changes may result in them dominating grant funding, overruling the mix of technology states had originally preferred.

Other changes being implemented include elimination of provisions ensuring affordable access for low-income Americans.

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BEAD Falls Apart | Episode 115 of the Connect This! Show

Connect This! Show
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Catch the latest episode of the Connect This! Show, with co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (TAK Broadband) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting), and special guest Josh Etheridge to talk about all the recent broadband news that's fit to print. Bountiful, Utah and Oakland, California announce newsworthy milestones to improve connectivity for households, but the big news is looming structural changes to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. And wouldn't you know it, but NTIA releases them just ten minutes into the live show. 

Join us live on June 7th at 2pm ET, or listen afterwards wherever you get your podcasts.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

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BEAD in Limbo: How Federal Delay Is Shaking Up Louisiana's Broadband Future - Episode 649 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

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In this episode of the podcast, Chris talks with Josh Etheridge, Chief Strategic Officer of EPC—a broadband construction company based in Louisiana—about the real-world consequences of the federal government’s pause on BEAD funding. 

Josh breaks down how the delay has disrupted local businesses, sidelined workers, and stalled broadband expansion in some of the country’s most disconnected communities. 

From equipment sitting idle to families laid off, he lays out how uncertainty at the top is rippling down through the industry—and what’s at stake if BEAD doesn’t move forward soon.

This show is 36 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license

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The Hidden Cost: The Ripple Effects of Canceling the Digital Equity Act - Episode 647 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

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In this episode of the podcast, Chris speaks with Jade Piros de Carvalho about the cascading impact of the federal government’s decision to cancel the Digital Equity Act.

They discuss how this sudden move threatens not just digital inclusion programs, but the very foundation of state broadband offices—and by extension, the success of the $42.5 billion BEAD infrastructure program.

With broadband office funding models built on a delicate web of interconnected federal grants, Jade explains why pulling one thread puts everything at risk.

This show is 24 minutes long and can be played on this page or via Apple Podcasts or the tool of your choice using this feed.

Transcript below.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

Listen to other episodes or view all episodes in our index. See other podcasts from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license

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