A few months ago, we published a Pulse Report on the market perception of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, a key initiative to push high-speed connectivity into rural areas and boost workforce and economic development opportunities. A major finding from that research: It’s still early and many players are still learning a lot.
Heading toward 2025, more wheels are beginning to turn. Notably, Louisiana has become the first state to begin passing along funding to a group of companies that include some of the telecom industry’s biggest names. Other states aren’t far behind—but that doesn’t mean the money taps are wide open: Daniel Peyovic, the incoming CEO of construction company Dycom, said his team expects to start booking meaningful revenues in the second half of next year before a big ramp in 2026.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows ahead: Senator Ted Cruz, who will soon chair the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has been taking shots at BEAD for a while and recently wrote that he will soon lead a review of BEAD, paying “specific attention to NTIA’s extreme technology bias in defining ‘priority broadband projects’ and ‘reliable broadband service.’” There’s more news to come…
See also: With Texas approval, all states and territories are ready to implement BEAD from ICT Solutions & Education
And sign up for Lightwave’s webinar “Understanding BABA and the BEAD waiver” right here!
