Fiber a Big Winner in Nevada's BEAD Awards
The state is set to get fiber to more than 80 percent of its eligible homes and businesses.
Jake Neenan
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2024 – Nevada posted Wednesday its preliminary grant awards under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. The state said more than 80 percent of its eligible locations would be served with fiber and tapped Amazon’s nascent satellite service for its more remote homes and businesses.
“I am very proud of our BEAD Final Proposal and proud that our subgrantee selection process will result in every single unserved residential location in Nevada being connected to affordable, reliable high-speed internet,” Brian Mitchell, the state’s broadband director, said in a statement. “While this is an exciting day for Nevada, our work is not done. Upon NTIA approval, I look forward to working with our subgrantees and federal, state and local stakeholders to put BEAD dollars to work and build best-in-class broadband infrastructure for the people of Nevada.”
The state was able to secure coverage for all 51,600 of its eligible homes and businesses, a major goal of the $42.5 billion program. The biggest winners were regional providers Stimulus Technologies and SkyFiber, which received a total of more than $323 million to serve 29,116 locations with mostly fiber.
Among national ISPs, AT&T and Cox Communications won $18.7 million and $22.9 million respectively. The rest of the state’s $416 BEAD allocation went to companies the broadband office described as small businesses.
In total, more than 36,700 locations are covered by fiber broadband projects while Amazon’s Kuiper satellite service, still getting off the ground, is set to serve nearly 4,900 locations. Another 2,300 are slated to receive fixed wireless, with 178 homes and businesses getting cable according to state data.
Nevada supplemented its BEAD cash with an additional $94.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding toward almost all participants’ matching requirement, according to records posted by the state. The program requires providers or a third party to put up 25 percent of project costs, and that money can come from some other federal broadband programs.
The state also awarded more than $42 million in separate federal funds for non-BEAD deployment projects, for a total of over $553 million.
Nevada asked NTIA to waive BEAD's matching requirement in its most remote areas, “where applicants have informed us that there is no economic case to serve the locations with a matching commitment.” Most are set to be served by Amazon’s Kuiper.
The state’s broadband office is “deeply proud of the outcome of its BEAD subgrantee selection process and is appreciative of the full range of Nevada stakeholders and partners who have been part of this effort, including policy makers, Tribal governments, local governments, ISPs, and residents who engaged with the state,” Mitchell wrote in the draft final proposal.
Nevada became at least the third to have posted its final BEAD proposal, joining Delaware and Louisiana. After the public comment period, which under BEAD rules is at least 30 days, the state will have to submit its spending plan to the federal government for approval before funding projects.
Incoming Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has joined other senior Republicans in criticizing the program and vowed to “review” BEAD provisions like the preference for fiber-optic cable. States are continuing under the current set of rules, with at least seventeen having begun fielding grant applications.
