Florida released a draft volume two of its Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment initial proposal on November 22.

It was the last in a wave of states and territories that began seeking public comment on their drafts in recent weeks, an effort to close the mandatory 30-day public comment period before the December 27 submission deadline. All 56 have now done so.

States will submit their proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency tapped to oversee the program. The proposals come in two volumes: volume one details how states will ground-truth broadband coverage data, and volume two outlines states’ plans for administering grant programs with their BEAD funds.

The state released a draft volume one of its proposal on November 15.

Florida estimates it will have $200 million of its $1.16 billion BEAD allocation remaining after funding infrastructure projects. The state is planning to start awarding that money to workforce development projects at the same time as infrastructure builds.

Without an effort to train and hire more people, Florida’s proposal said, there will not be enough workers in the state with the necessary skills to complete those projects. The telecommunications industry as a whole is facing a workforce shortage, and Florida is planning to fund training and outreach efforts to address the shortfall.

The state said it may be requesting a waiver from the NTIA to make some Federal Communications Commission subsidy areas open to BEAD funds, citing “growing local and national concern over the economic viability of some RDOF awards coming to fruition.” Alabama has requested such a waiver.

The FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund awarded over $9 billion to expand broadband networks to unserved areas in 2020, over $2.8 billion of which has since gone into default.

Florida’s broadband office “reserves the option,” according to its volume two, to use the NTIA’s updated financing guidelines. Those updated guidelines allow for changes that tie up less cash than the original BEAD requirement, a 25 percent letter of credit from an accredited bank.

The public comment period for Florida’s volume two is open until December 22.

December 4, 2023 – Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Saturday that the department is ready and willing to impose further export restrictions on any products made by graphics card maker NVIDIA that assists adversarial nations in developing their artificial intelligence capabilities, according to a story from Fortune. 

“If you redesign a chip around a particular cut line that enables them to do AI, I’m going to control it the very next day,” Raimondo said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, according to Fortune. 

Nvidia, which has been focusing on its development as an AI company, has restructured its advanced chips to access the Chinese market, which is worth at least $400 million in sales. In response to exports restrictions imposed by Commerce in August 2022, Nvidia tweaked its A100 chip series to comply with U.S. rules, limiting the processing capabilities and re-releasing the chips under a new name, the A800 series.

In October 2023, Commerce imposed additional licensing requirements based on performance threshold to limit the export of high-performance computing chips, to include the A800 series. Less than a month later, Nvidia had introduced a series of GPUs with limited computing capabilities in compliance with Commerce export requirements, made available to Chinese customers.

Commerce has said it is trying to limit risks of the chips being used in foreign military operations.

In response to Secretary Raimondo’s recent claims, Nvidia said “We are engaged with the U.S. government and, following the government’s clear guidelines, are working to offer compliant data center solutions to customers worldwide.”

The advanced chips are central components to the rise of artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, cloud and high-performance computing.

FCC issues guidance to high-cost support recipients 

The Federal Communications Commission released guidance Wednesday for recipients of high-cost support, outlining the coordination necessary between the recipients, state broadband offices and Tribal entities to avoid overbuilding in areas supported by multiple broadband programs. 

The FCC notes that the recipients of the high-cost programs, which include the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model, and Connect America Fund, must participate in the broadband map challenge process as states prepare to deliver money from the $42.5-billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

“Full participation of high-cost support recipients in BEAD Program challenge processes is critical to ensuring that the FCC’s high-cost funding is not duplicated by the BEAD Program,” the FCC said in the guidance. 

“Participation in the BEAD Program challenge process also ensures state broadband offices receive information about high-cost program supported deployments beyond the valuable information provided on the Broadband Funding Map,” it added. 

These recipients should coordinate with their respective state broadband office by taking steps to ensure that the National Broadband Map accurately reflects the locations they serve, the speeds they provide to the locations, and the technologies they are using to serve those locations, the FCC emphasized. 

In addition, the FCC guidance emphasizes that high-cost support recipients should engage with each relevant Tribal government annually to obtain the necessary consent, permits, and other approvals as soon as practicable, even if the recipient has not begun deployment. 

The Tribal engagement obligation set by the FCC represents an opportunity for Tribal governments and high-cost support recipients to coordinate on many issues critical to the deployment and adoption of communications technologies on Tribal lands.

Kansas awards $28.5 million in state broadband grants

Kansas announced it is awarding $28.5 million in broadband grants Wednesday to twelve internet service providers through the state’s Lasting Infrastructure and Network Connectivity program. All of the funding dedicated to broadband infrastructure is going toward deploying fiber technology.

One of the largest awards is to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, a native American tribe, which will bring fiber-to-the-home connectivity to all of the nation’s 204 residences, as well as to 10 Tribal government services locations on the PBPN reservation. 

Additionally, included in the awards is funding for Kansas’ first carrier-neutral Internet Exchange Point, which will be located on the campus of Wichita State University. The IXP stands to reduce IP transit pricing to below 10 cents per megabit, an expected 90% reduction in cost as compared to current transport and transit pricing through Kansas City, Missouri. 

The awards will also expand middle mile infrastructure through two economically distressed counties in north central Kansas. 

The state funds will be matched by the ISPs for a total of $33.9 million in additional investments.

Massachusetts released a draft of its Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment initial proposal on November 13.

It was part of a wave of states and territories that began seeking public comment on their drafts in recent weeks, an effort to close the mandatory 30-day public comment period before the December 27 submission deadline. All 56 have now done so.

States will submit their proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the agency tapped to oversee the program. The proposals come in two volumes: volume one details how states will ground-truth broadband coverage data, and volume two outlines states’ plans for administering grant programs with their BEAD funds.

Volume one

The state is planning to adopt the NTIA’s model challenge process to accept and adjudicate claims of incorrect broadband data. The Federal Communications Commission’s largely provider-reported coverage map was used to allocate BEAD money, but is not considered accurate enough to determine which specific locations lack broadband.

Local governments, nonprofits, and broadband providers are able to submit those challenges on behalf of consumers under the model process. 

The state is electing to accept speed tests as evidence in those challenges, provided they meet certain methodological requirements.

Massachusetts is also electing to use one of the NTIA’s optional modifications to the model process. The state’s broadband office will designate all homes and businesses receiving broadband from copper telephone lines as “underserved” – and thus eligible for BEAD-funded infrastructure. The move is an effort to replace older technology with the higher speed fiber-optic cable favored by the program.

The state will administer two optional challenge types the NTIA laid out: area and MDU challenges. States are not required to use these, but most have outlined plans to do so in their initial proposals.

An area challenge is initiated if six or more locations in a census block group challenge the same technology from the same provider with sufficient evidence. The provider is then required to show evidence they provide the reported service to every location in the census block group, or the entire area will be opened up to BEAD funds.

An MDU, or multiple dwelling unit, challenge is triggered when three units or 10 percent of the total units in an apartment building challenge a provider’s service. It again flips the burden of proof, requiring providers to prove they give the reported service for the entire building, not just units being challenged.

Volume two

Massachusetts is planning to fund “non-deployment” projects immediately after approval of its initial proposal, rather than waiting to award infrastructure grants like most states. That’s because the state’s broadband office is “confident  that the remaining coverage gaps for mass market residential and commercial service can be closed” with its $147 million in BEAD funding.

In fact, thanks to the state’s Gap Networks program, funded by the Treasury Department’s Capital Projects Fund, there may be “few or no” BEAD-eligible locations remaining by the time subgrantee selection begins, according to the initial proposal. If necessary, Massachusetts is planning up to three rounds of funding to secure projects in eligible areas.

Non-deployment projects are those that aim to address gaps in broadband adoption in ways other than building new infrastructure, like efforts to increase affordability or improve digital literacy.

Among those projects the state is planning are state-run alternatives to the Affordable Connectivity Program, the $14 billion broadband subsidy for low-income households set to dry up in April 2024, and expanding a local partnership program that provides a variety of digital literacy and education services to more areas of the state.

For the deployment projects it does fund with BEAD, Massachusetts will be using the NTIA’s updated financing guidance, which gives states more options to ensure the financial viability of a project. Issued on November 1, the new guidance makes room for performance bonds and reimbursement milestones. Those tie up less cash than the original requirement, a letter of credit for 25 percent of the project cost.

The agency made the change after months of pushback from advocates and lawmakers, who warned small providers could be edged out by the original rules. 

The public comment period for Massachusetts’s BEAD initial proposal is open until December 13.