My argument would be that if they are going to open it up to technology neutral services, which includes Starlink, Cellular Hotspots, and Fixed unlicensed wireless to achieve the best outcome for the money then the whole process has to be restarted.
Because as it stands right now, bidding was based on exclusion of those services as “underserved” which was half ass logic. Tyson Burris, President Internet Communications Inc. 739 Commerce Dr.<x-apple-data-detectors://1/1> Franklin, IN 46131<x-apple-data-detectors://1/1> 317-738-0320<tel:317-738-0320> Daytime # 317-412-1540<tel:317-412-1540> Cell/Direct # Online: www.surfici.net VIA WIRELESS On Mar 5, 2025, at 16:46, tpa...@ecpi.com wrote: If the new language says that the state has to be “technology-neutral,” and also that the state has to select the lowest-cost projects, which I thought was selecting criteria, too. I would think more FWA projects will do well. We shall see. Thanks, Tushar From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 3:25 PM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] BEAD Fiber projects gone? Unless they find a way to strongarm the states to give it all to Elon, I’m not sure this is a huge change. I would expect states to still prefer fiber if they got enough BEAD money to do it everywhere, or otherwise to lower the cost point at which they use FWA or satellite until they have enough money to go around. Seems like this is the way things were going anyway. I mean, if you’re a state and the feds gave you $1 billion to spend, wouldn’t you spend most of it on fiber except where fiber is really really difficult or expensive? Unless there is pressure to get it done in 5 months instead of 5 years. I would be shocked, shocked if all (or even most) fiber projects were gone. What I’d worry more about is that the money goes to satellite in preference to FWA. Seems like BEAD money to FWA would build infrastructure, while the way BEAD would subsidize satellite like Starlink would be to cover part of the monthly cost for X many years, in other words not a long term solution. Even if they found a way to fund launching new satellites, they only last 5 years and have to be replaced. From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com<mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com>> On Behalf Of tpa...@ecpi.com<mailto:tpa...@ecpi.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 3:12 PM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com<mailto:af@af.afmug.com>> Subject: [AFMUG] BEAD Fiber projects gone? https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/commerce-to-overhaul-internet-for-all-plan-expanding-starlink-funding-prospects-74664efc#comments_sector Thank you, <image001.jpg> Tushar Patel tpa...@ecpi.com<mailto:tpa...@ecpi.com> www.westernbroadband.com<http://www.westernbroadband.com/> (512) 257-2733 -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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