Louisiana First State to Release Its Final Plans for BEAD
The state will serve all its eligible locations, with 95 percent set to receive fiber.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2024 – Louisiana released Monday the broadband expansion projects it plans to fund with its slice of $42.5 billion in Infrastructure Act funding, becoming the first state in the nation to do so.
The state confirmed it will reach every home and business lacking adequate broadband, a main goal of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Of those nearly 140,000 locations, more than 95 percent are slated to be served with fiber. The remaining are split between fixed wireless and satellite, plus a small amount of cable.
The biggest winner was a consortium of local fiber providers, taking home more than $450 million to serve 76,800 homes and businesses, followed by Conexon, which is set to receive nearly $66 million to serve 8,400 locations, and AT&T, which won nearly $55 million to serve 20,000 locations. Veneeth Iyengar, executive director of the state’s broadband office, noted in a statement that 70 percent of Louisiana’s deployment spending will go to companies based in the state.
“We’re seeing our vision of expanding broadband access and eliminating the digital divide move closer to reality, and we couldn’t be more thankful for everyone who has helped drive this transformative initiative,” he wrote.
It’s not clear how much grant money either SpaceX or Kuiper, the two satellite ISPs that qualified for BEAD in Louisiana, will nab. The state is still hammering out a deal securing satellite coverage for nearly 2,900 locations that got no interest from fiber or fixed wireless providers, according to award information posted Monday. The state estimates funding that satellite service will run about $10,000 per location.
Louisiana’s broadband office is accepting public comments on its final BEAD proposal until December 10. Then the document will be submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which will have to green light the plan before projects can get underway.
Non-deployment
All told, Louisiana is planning to spend about $748 million in expanding infrastructure. The state was allocated more than $1.3 billion in BEAD funding, giving the broadband office room to fund projects that tackle the digital divide from angles other than infrastructure.
Roughly $153 million (a tentative amount yet to be approved by the governor) is planned to fund five projects implemented directly by the state, meaning they won’t be subgranted out. The projects include an effort to map utility infrastructure across the state, funding for precision agriculture equipment and training, and workforce development programs.
An additional $370 million, also tentative, is slated for seven grant programs with similar goals, including telehealth expansion and digital skills trainings for small businesses. That selection process is planned for the second quarter of 2025, following outreach efforts and workshops for prospective applicants.
