California Official Offers Update on BEAD Implementation

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Oct. 11, 2024 - A California state broadband official noted Friday that the state was working towards implementing funding from the Biden Administration’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

Darcie Houck, a commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission, noted in a keynote address that the state has been working well with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is managing the BEAD program for the White House.

Houck said the state has been encountering difficulty in supervising the BEAD challenge process. She specifically cited the number of eligible locations throughout the state as a substantial challenge. Houck said California had already received about 3,000 challenges, representing roughly 10 percent of all eligible locations in the state.

She also noted the high cost of serving California’s many locations. “It’s going to be tight to meet all of our needs,” Houck said. “[The state is] going to need every dollar that we got.”

California is expected to serve more than 350,000 underserved and unserved locations with $1.8 billion in BEAD funding.

Houck spoke at the annual Broadband Nation Expo (Oct. 9-11) produced by the Telecommunications Industry Association and Fierce Network.

Linda Hardesty, executive editor for broadband at Fierce Network, moderated the conversation with Houck.