The Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Congress passed last November, directs the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to implement, among other things, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
The BEAD program would provide up to $41.6 billion in federal grants for deployment of broadband services that offer a minimum of 100/20 Mbps to areas that the IIJA considers to be unserved or underserved by broadband service today. Areas are considered unserved if they currently lack broadband speeds of 25/3 Mbps. Areas are considered underserved if they currently lack broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps. The IIJA requires NTIA to provide BEAD funds to state governments that will, in turn, disburse the funds to broadband internet service providers. The IIJA also requires NTIA to define “Reliable Broadband Service.”
On May 13, 2022, NTIA released its Notice of Funding Opportunity for the BEAD program (BEAD NOFO). Unfortunately, the BEAD NOFO determined that broadband service “using entirely unlicensed spectrum” is not “Reliable Broadband Service.”
This means that locations receiving 25/3 Mbps or faster speeds from broadband service using only unlicensed spectrum will be considered unserved and thus eligible for BEAD funding. This will lead to overbuilding many of the locations where WISPA operator members currently serve using only unlicensed spectrum to provide 25/3 Mbps or faster speeds. WISPA believes this is flawed and unjust. Before reaching this decision, NTIA provided no notice to the public that it was considering excluding broadband using entirely unlicensed spectrum from the definition of “Reliable Broadband Service.”
Over the past couple of weeks, WISPA has surveyed more than 30 WISPA vendor members who are either equipment manufacturers or distributors that sell radios and other equipment that enable thousands of WISPs to provide reliable broadband service to millions of locations in the United States using entirely unlicensed spectrum, with speeds ranging from 25/3 Mbps to far exceeding 100/20 Mbps. But we need state specific information as well to help WISPA’s advocacy before Congressional offices and state governments.
Below is a survey that we hope all WISPA operator members will take a few minutes to review and complete. Please try to complete the survey by June 17th. The reason we are asking for Affordable Connectivity Program information is to show Congressional offices and states how many low-income consumers are being served by reliable broadband using entirely unlicensed spectrum. Our plan is to provide this information on a state-by-state basis in an aggregated and anonymized manner. The name of your company will not be shared when we provide this information.
Click on the link below to start...
https://members.wispa.org/survey_start.php?mid=1959771181&rid=408999413
If you have difficulty with the link, please copy & paste the URL into the address bar of your browser.
(NOTE: Please do not share this link, this link is encoded just for your use for this survey)