Broadband ‘Funding is Sufficient to Achieve the Program’s Availability Goal,’ Says Cable Industry Study

WASHINGTON, October 20, 2022 – ACA Connects and consulting firm Cartesian on Monday released a study that contains state-by-state recommendations for the optimization of forthcoming grants from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

“Our analysis indicates that funding is sufficient to achieve the program’s availability goal,” the study’s “National Overview” section reads. In addition, ACA Connects found that most states and territories will likely have sufficient funds to deploy fiber to all unserved and underserved locations below an “extremely high-cost threshold.”

The study’s authors calculated the number of unserved and underserved locations nationwide based on Form 477 data, adjusting for known error and locations that have received funds from other federal programs. They then calculated the amount of BEAD funding for each state and territory and estimated the public costs of serving in-need locations.