Last November, Vernonburg Group assessed what level of funding may be necessary for a “rainy-day fund” to bolster Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)-funded projects and ensure that high-speed last mile connectivity is extended to unserved and underserved locations not identified for support in the first round of BEAD funding. We understand that to advance the program with expediency, NTIA had to pick a static point in time for determining locations to be funded in the BEAD subgrantee selection process, although deployment locations is a dynamic, changing variable.

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Vernonburg Group has updated its analysis of unserved and underserved locations across the United States and now recommends that NTIA work with the Eligible Entities to create a rainy day fund of $7.6 billion to cover BEAD program contributions toward the cost of deploying last mile broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved locations that remain unfunded, as well as to account for future new builds and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) defaults.

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After taking into account the $21.6 billion in BEAD funds currently remaining after allocating funding for last mile projects in unserved and underserved locations, this leaves approximately $14 billion that could be directed to other purposes as the NTIA and states see fit. This includes: direct support to bolster broadband network deployments, increase subscription to home broadband services, and make broadband projects more commercially sustainable, as well as the other purposes specified in the Infrastructure Act. In our previous blog, we discussed the proven economic benefits of investing in these “non-deployment” activities.

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