State and Industry Leaders Offer BEAD Update

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2024 - A group of state and industry broadband experts said Tuesday that partnerships between government, service providers and communities were crucial to the success of the Biden administration’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

“It’s really important to [work with] people from within the community because they’re trusted people and they know their communities very well,” said Executive Director of the Colorado Broadband Office Brandy Reitter in a panel that included Chief Strategy Officer at the Wyoming-based service provider Visionary Broadband Brian Wagner.

Wagner noted the importance of collaboration with communities in the development of census block groups. He said that census block groups assigned arbitrarily could split communities, raising difficulties in the BEAD application process.