BEAD Faces an Array of Impediments: Executive

Some BEAD critics claim deployment is moving too slowly due to bureaucracy and inflation, but there are also "entrenched and deliberate obstacles" from incumbent broadband providers, COS Systems Vice President-North America Sales Adam Puckett wrote Tuesday. He said that while FCC broadband maps are a big improvement over Form 477 data, they still undercount broadband serviceable locations. Moreover, state preemption laws that restrict or ban municipal broadband -- often the result of lobbying efforts by incumbent ISPs -- are "a potential legal and political minefield for the BEAD program." BEAD rollout also faces capacity challenges at state broadband offices, he said. As such, he called for the FCC to prioritize fixing broadband maps and states to give municipalities additional leeway in providing broadband.