President Joe Biden signed his infrastructure bill into law about three years ago.
And the funding that was included in that bill for broadband development has been very slow in coming.
“There have been so many delays at the federal level,” said Christine Hallquist, Vermont Community Broadband Board's executive director. “Our original forecast was that, by now, we would have already been providing these grants.”
The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which is a part of the infrastructure bill, has about $42 billion in it for states to build out high-speed broadband networks into areas where telecommunication companies have been reluctant to serve.
Vermont is supposed to get $229 million, and Hallquist said the state is just waiting for the feds to deliver the money.
But Hallquist said the election of Donald Trump has a lot of people across the country wondering about the future of the BEAD program.
“There are going to be some massive changes next year, and we don’t know what that’s going to do,” Hallquist said. “Whether it’s saber rattling or not, you know, if the states don’t line up with the Trump agenda, will he withhold federal funds? So, we are in uncharted territory here.”
There are going to be some massive changes next year, and we don’t know what that’s going to do. ... If the states don’t line up with the Trump agenda, will he withhold federal funds? So, we are in uncharted territory here.Christine Hallquist, Vermont Community Broadband Board executive director
Hallquist said just about everything is in place for the state to begin accepting applications for the funding, and then delivering the federal grants to the state’s communications union districts, or CUDs.
Vermont has gained national recognition for its program to establish the CUDs, which are organizations made up of a groups of towns that are working together to string up high-speed fiber into mostly rural areas.
The state has already invested about $200 million, using mostly COVID-19 ARPA money, to get the project going.
And this next pile of federal BEAD money is supposed to allow the CUDs to continue their work.
But Trump’s nominee to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, told lawmakers earlier this year that the BEAD program was wasteful.
And Trump, while he was campaigning, said it didn’t make sense to invest in rural broadband fiber networks.
Hallquist said she is leading her staff to make sure they are moving as quickly as possible, because when the federal money gets to Vermont, it can’t be taken back.
“It will take six or eight months for them to get their act together, so our goal is to be as disciplined as possible, and it’s more important than ever because we want to get under contract before anyone takes the money back,” said Hallquist. “We’re making sure we dot every 'I' and cross every 'T,' but that might not be enough.”
“Vermont’s historic BEAD investment is allocated and obligated— I will continue to fight to ensure that money gets out the door to get families connected to high-speed, reliable internet," said Vermont Sen. Peter Welch. "Broadband is an issue I have worked across the aisle on, including with the next vice president, and I will keep fighting to ensure all rural communities are lifted out of digital darkness.”
The CUDs are in a variety of different positions as far as their buildouts go.
Three CUDs — Lamoille Fibernet, Otter Creek and Southern Vermont communications union districts — are all mostly done with their projects, and they no longer need to use grant money to continue the work.
But the other six CUDs are counting on the federal BEAD money.
“We’ll definitely be applying for BEAD funds,” said Christa Shute, executive director of NEK Community Broadband, a CUD that serves 71 towns in northern and central Vermont. “The BEAD money will be critical to finishing the project in the Northeast Kingdom and Central Vermont.”
Our goal in our district, which has three of the four poorest counties in the state, is to get BEAD funding to cover as many of those addresses as possible and limit the borrowing we do.Christa Shute, NEK Community Broadband
The CUDs are counting on grants to make the cost as low as possible.
Many districts will have to bond to finish the work, because the grant money won’t cover it all.
Especially in the Northeast Kingdom, Shute said, every grant dollar that is invested in the project is one dollar that the CUD will not have to borrow.
“Funding the project with grant funds enable the long-term affordability for residents,” she said. “To the degree that we are able to fund the project with grants, it will enable us to lower the price that customers pay. We’re essentially investing our public dollars in public infrastructure so that every dollar that we earn gets invested in the infrastructure, in reducing prices or in creating affordability and access programs for people in need.”
Shute would not say how much BEAD money the CUD will request.
She said they have spent about $25 million so far, reaching about 8,000 homes, and the work in the district is about 20% completed.
“We believe that BEAD will be able to fund the most unserved and underserved areas. Our goal in our district, which has three of the four poorest counties in the state, is to get BEAD funding to cover as many of those addresses as possible and limit the borrowing we do,” Shute said. “We’re really proud to enable people to get educations that they couldn’t get before, to do telemedicine that they couldn’t access. It’s making a really huge difference in people’s lives in so many ways.”
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