NRECA Seeks 'True-Up' Process Before BEAD Awards

To avoid possible overbuilding, NTIA should require states to have an expedited process to verify that eligible locations aren’t served before making final awards in the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. NRECA CEO Jim Matheson sent a letter Thursday to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. The association’s proposed true-up process would “allow existing ISPs to conclusively demonstrate that they provide adequate service at locations that otherwise could be awarded funding,” Matheson said. “To counter any gamesmanship in this process,” NTIA should allow this only for fiber deployments. “In the time since eligible locations were determined and the state map challenge processes occurred, many rural ISPs have continued to construct fiber broadband networks and connect new customers,” said Matheson: Those ISPs include NRECA members. “There are significant discrepancies between the FCC’s December 2023 map data, subsequent state challenges and rural networks either built since then or currently under construction,” he said. “As a result, BEAD funding could be awarded to overbuild locations where reliable internet service has since been, or soon will be, deployed.”