Lawyer: BEAD Reforms Could Slow Rollout and Raise 'Thorny Questions'

BEAD reforms would occur as funding is about to be disbursed and could impose additional deployment delays, Keller & Heckman communications lawyer Sean Stokes wrote Thursday. Making BEAD changes, either by Commerce or via pending legislation (see 2503050067), now "raises thorny questions on whether some of the new rules can and should be applied mid-way through the award selection process, and after the application windows have closed," Stokes said. It's unclear if providers that haven't participated in BEAD based on the existing rules would have any recourse to participate under the new rules, he said. Also unclear is how further BEAD delays will affect state broadband maps and if NTIA will let states revise eligible locations to account for new deployments that have taken place in the meantime, he said.