Newest Version Reflects Updated FCC Mapping Data, Takes Into Account Continued Buildout as States Get Ready to Award BEAD Funds in Coming Years, and Affirms Widespread Fiber Deployment
PITTSBURGH, June 21, 2023 – ACA Connects President and CEO Grant Spellmeyer today announced the release of “Version 3.0” of the association’s study, “BEAD Program: A Framework to Allocate Funding for Broadband Availability,” developed in partnership with the business consulting firm Cartesian.
The new version of the study confirms ACA Connects’ and Cartesian’s previous finding that the BEAD program will provide sufficient funds to connect the vast majority of unserved and underserved locations with fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology.
“Congress and NTIA made the right call when they established fiber as the preferred broadband technology for BEAD projects. Fiber connectivity will be a game-changer for rural households and communities across the country that lack quality broadband options today,” Spellmeyer said.
In Version 3.0 of the BEAD framework, ACA Connects and Cartesian rely on the latest Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband mapping data and Cartesian’s propriety network cost model to estimate the share of BEAD funding each State and Territory will receive. We then estimate the number of unserved and underserved locations in each State and Territory that will be eligible for support when funds are made available to subgrantees, beginning in 2024. Next, based on a reasonable business case, we project that subgrantees will contribute $22 billion in total matching funds on top of the $42 billion appropriated by Congress, which sums to $64 billion in total funds available for BEAD projects. The business case also informs our choice of an “extremely high-cost threshold” of $9,000 per location for purposes of our analysis.
We then evaluate two national-level deployment scenarios – both based on the conservative assumption that project awards are made in 2024: a “Baseline Fiber” approach that deploys fiber only to locations at or below the extremely high-cost threshold, and a “Maximum Fiber” approach that deploys fiber to additional, higher-cost locations. Under “Baseline Fiber,” 71 percent of the estimated 7.4 million eligible locations would receive fiber and the remainder would receive fixed wireless or other technologies, at a total cost of $45 billion. In the “Maximum Fiber” scenario, 82 percent of locations receive fiber and the total cost is $59 billion. In both scenarios, the vast majority of eligible locations receive fiber, and a substantial share of the $64 billion in total available funds is left over for broadband adoption and other initiatives.
Version 3.0 also includes a “sensitivity analysis” that accounts for the fact that additional broadband deployment that will occur during and after 2024—including builds that are subsidized by the $10 Billion Capital Projects Fund and other Federal programs—is likely to substantially reduce the number of locations that will need BEAD funding – and therefore will enable additional fiber builds. We model two scenarios: 10 percent of BEAD-eligible locations, or 15 percent, being taken “off the table” due to incremental deployments that occur prior to the award of BEAD funds. In these scenarios, the number of BEAD-eligible locations would be reduced to 6.9 million and 6.6 million, respectively; in either scenario, the BEAD funds would go further than we project in our study, allowing more locations to receive fiber and freeing up additional funds for adoption initiatives and other connectivity goals.
Version 3.0 of the study, like the previous version, includes a national framework and a framework for each State. These materials have been made available by ACA Connects and Cartesian on the ACA Connects website, at https://acaconnects.org/bead-program-framework/.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 established the BEAD program, which will apportion more than $42 billion in funding among the States, Territories, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, for projects that support broadband infrastructure deployment and adoption. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) must determine each State and Territory’s allocation, using a formula that relies on the FCC’s National Broadband Map.
“Congress clearly intended for the FCC maps to be an authoritative data source, not only for allocating BEAD funds among the States but also for determining the locations that are eligible for support,” Spellmeyer said. “We applaud Chairwoman Rosenworcel and the FCC staff for their efforts to produce the second version of the National Broadband Map, which incorporates the results of numerous challenges and makes other fixes to enhance its accuracy. This new-and-improved version of the map provides a strong foundation for NTIA to allocate the BEAD funds and for States and Territories to begin implementing their programs.”
ACA Connects is ready to work with State and local government offices to help them understand and apply Version 3.0 of our framework. The analysis for each State and Territory also contains a list of ACA Connects Members that operate in that jurisdiction and whom they should contact. Our Members are experienced broadband providers who have deployed advanced networks to nearly 23 million households, including to more economically challenging locations in rural areas. In addition, over the years, they have successfully used federal, State, and local government funding to deploy broadband connectivity to these communities.
About ACA Connects: America’s Communications Association –America’s Communications Association – ACA Connects is a trade organization representing approximately 500 smaller and medium-sized, independent companies that provide broadband, video, and phone services covering 29.5 million households. ACA Connects Members operate in every state, providing advanced communications to connect homes, companies, main street, schools, hospitals and more. America’s economic prosperity in smaller communities and rural areas depends on the growth and success of ACA Connects Members, who believe a connected nation is a prosperous nation.