Broadband Expanded

A project of New York Law School’s Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute.

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Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/QcJ9fWoEsd

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

The $42.5 billion BEAD program is FINALLY ready to break ground. The money's been approved, providers are lined up, and communities are waiting.

Our NEW analysis sheds light on one of the biggest hurdles to BEAD success: utility poles.

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

If this doesn't get fixed, billions of dollars meant to connect rural America could get eaten up by fights over wooden poles. Pole reform isn't glamorous. But without it, we can’t achieve universal broadband deployment.

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

9/Read the full analysis here: https://t.co/QcJ9fWoEsd

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

1/The $42.5 billion BEAD program is FINALLY ready to break ground. The money's been approved, providers are lined up, and communities are waiting.

Our ⭐️NEW ⭐️analysis sheds light on one of the biggest hurdles to BEAD success: utility poles.

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

8/If this doesn't get fixed, billions of dollars meant to connect rural America could get eaten up by fights over wooden poles. Pole reform isn't glamorous. But without it, we can’t achieve universal broadband deployment.

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

7/And even when there are rules of the road, some still try to drive offroad. Comcast, for example, is back at the FCC for the second time in a year – asking it to stop Appalachian Power from demanding pole-replacement charges the FCC already said it can't impose.
https://t.co/vtTOMKgZSJ

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

3/This is a problem on a massive scale: per our analysis, BEAD-funded providers will need to "touch" nearly 4 million utility poles across the country to finish the job.

[Broadband Expanded @expandbroadband]

2/Here's how it works: to bring fiber to rural homes, providers must string their lines along the utility poles already on the side of the road. Those poles are usually owned by electric utilities, which are required to share access on fair terms.

Many aren't.