"The letter, which was also sent to Arielle Roth - the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) - said that it was Congress' "clear intent" to release non-deployment BEAD funds and that it is required to do so under Section 60102(f) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)."
"The letter says that non-deployment funds are used for tasks such as building artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, streamlining permitting and pole attachment processes, developing the telecom workforce, improving middle mile and cellular networks, enhancing cybersecurity and emergency services, expanding telehealth and education opportunities, and fostering broadband adoption and affordability."
""The scale of non-deployment will allow states to improve virtually every aspect of their connectivity," according to the letter. "This unprecedented opportunity was created in direct response to NTIA's call for efficiency. To now deny states the funds their efficiency generated would penalize success and undermine BEAD's purpose.""
More than 160 state legislators, mostly Democrats, requested that Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and NTIA head Arielle Roth release remaining non-deployment funds from the $42.45 billion BEAD program. The legislators cited Congress' clear intent and Section 60102(f) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as requiring release of the funds. Non-deployment funds are intended for AI infrastructure, permitting and pole attachment streamlining, telecom workforce development, middle mile and cellular improvements, cybersecurity and emergency services, telehealth and education expansion, and broadband adoption and affordability. Two states, Texas and North Carolina, each have more than $1 billion available, and most states will have access to hundreds of millions. A separate group of ten House members sought clarification from Lutnick and Roth in late August.
Read at Telecompetitor
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]