NTIA Issues New BEAD Guidance for Alternative Technologies Including Starlink

The NTIA has issued additional guidance for states on providing grants to operators using technologies that are not considered “Reliable Broadband Service”. Those technologies can only be used in locations that exceed the state's Extremely High Cost Per Location Threshold (EHCPLT). Reliable Broadband Service as defined in the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) would include Fiber, Cable Modem Service, DSL or Fixed Wireless using licensed spectrum or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. What's left for states to consider as far as Alternative Technologies would be Fixed Wireless deployments using entirely unlicensed spectrum and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite service like Starlink, and potentially Amazon's Project Kuiper if they are able to deploy a sufficient number of satellites in time to serve an area. #BEADFunding #Starlink #AlternativeTechologies
Link from Today:
~ NTIA Post on Alternative Technologies (includes a link to the guidance document): www.ntia.gov/o...