BEAD isn’t the magic wand that will fix broadband

Headline: Millions of Americans still have unreliable or unaffordable internet. They don’t have the luxury of waiting for the BEAD Fairy to make all their broadband dreams come true.
Article: BEAD has been the talk of the town for the past few years. The U.S. government touts the program is key to closing the country’s digital divide once and for all. Billions of dollars are on the line, so BEAD must succeed…right?
People are worrying about how long it’s taking for the BEAD ship to sail. An NTIA exec recently said BEAD “was always a 10-year program,” a timeline that apparently wasn’t clear from the program’s inception. Louisiana is the only state so far that’s awarded BEAD grants, and providers elsewhere may have to wait until 2026 to get their deployment funds.
Date: December 18, 2024
Read Full Article: Fierce-network.com