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NCTA Chief Says Incumbent ISPs 'Best Equipped' for BEAD

The broadband equity, access and deployment program will see no shortage of providers seeking funds, but "few will have what it takes" to effectively use the money for deployment and maintenance of future-proof networks in a timely and economical fashion, NCTA President Michael Powell wrote Tuesday in an op-ed in Governing. Incumbent private-sector internet service providers, with their decades-old track record of delivering cable and broadband, "are best equipped to meet the challenge," he wrote. Federal policymakers, Powell added, must avoid creating regulatory hoops that would disincentivize experienced providers from participating. State policymakers will face "ample temptation to stray from that focus and waste funds on unrelated objectives," Powell wrote.