Lujan, Other Democrats Praise NTIA's Conditional Waiver of BEAD Letter of Credit Rules

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and two other Democratic senators praised NTIA Friday for issuing a conditional waiver of the broadband, equity, access and deployment program's letter of credit requirement (see 2311010040). Lujan and the other two senators, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Peter Welch of Vermont, previously wrote Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson urging them to consider alternatives to the LOC requirement for BEAD participation. “I'm glad that” Davidson “heeded our call to allow Tribal entities, municipalities, credit unions, and smaller broadband providers to fully participate in connecting families in New Mexico and across the country,” Lujan said: “This waiver authority relies on tested tools to ensure broadband providers are able to complete the work while also providing flexibility to better connect New Mexicans.”