The National Broadband Mapping Coalition monthly call series resumed on July 24. Dustin Loup led the call once again, opening with an invitation to submit suggestions for future topics and providing a link to the NBMC Speaker Interest form for anyone wishing to present at a future Coalition call.
Dustin then introduced Jake Varn of The Pew Charitable Trusts, who addressed how states are defining BEAD project areas. Project areas can be seen as falling into one of five categories:
- Census Tract/Block Group/Block
- County/City Boundaries
- School Districts
- Custom Project Areas
- Provider Created
Jake provided details on the different categories and the states using them to move forward with the process of soliciting and evaluating service provider bids for BEAD-eligible projects. The custom project areas used by several states are based on different combinations of parameters reflecting different policy priorities and may be adjusted during bidding rounds.
In response to comments from participants, Jake acknowledged that states have given themselves the flexibility to make exceptions and allow waivers to accommodate plans that don’t fit neatly into a project area. Kevin Sievert of Calix concurred, sharing the advice he gives clients to connect with the state broadband office early and ask lots of questions.
Christine Parker of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance voiced concern regarding the ability of small service providers to compete in large project areas. To allay this concern to some degree, Kevin shared his observation that the incumbent provider in many Texas counties—and the likely recipient of funding to provide complete coverage in their service area—is a small or medium provider.
Tom Reid posed the question of what happens if states can’t find providers to serve 100% of their population. Kevin speculated that many states will not receive sufficient BEAD funds to cover everyone and may end up filling in gaps using state funds. Regarding technology, states may have to resort to fixed wireless and even satellite service to reach 100% coverage. The anticipated heavy administrative burden of securing BEAD funds, inaccurate coverage maps, and avoiding overlapping projects could be major hurdles as well.
For the next segment, Dustin introduced Matt Triano of University of Chicago to describe their work on data validation for the BEAD Challenge process. The BEAD Inspector tool they developed is open-source, compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems. After providing an overview of the tool’s features, Matt described the steps needed to install and use BEAD Inspector. He then demonstrated the tool using a set of test data.
Dustin closed with a call for community updates and suggested topics for future discussion. Kenneth Lovelady with the Fort Bend County (Texas) Information Technology Department responded with a request for feedback from the group on digital literacy programs, including funding sources. Dustin agreed this is an area the Coalition can address and invited Kenneth to share more off line.
A recording of the call is available to Coalition members on request (info@marconisociety.org). The National Broadband Mapping Coalition monthly call series will continue with the next call scheduled for Wednesday, August 28.
