Version 3.0 of ACA Connects BEAD study reaffirms fiber should stretch far enough

ACA Connects has released version 3.0 of its “BEAD Program: A Framework to Allocate Funding for Broadband Availability” study. Conducted in collaboration with business consulting firm Cartesian, the new edition of the study reaffirms the conclusion reached in previous versions that Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding should be sufficient to enable fiber to the premises (FTTP) to reach what the organization calls “the vast majority of unserved and underserved locations” in the U.S.

Version 3.0 of the study incorporates the latest Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband mapping data, filtered through Cartesian’s propriety network cost model to estimate the share of BEAD funding each state and territory will receive. The partners estimated the number of unserved and underserved locations in each state and territory that should be eligible for the funding support expected to come online in 2024. ACA Connects and Cartesian believe, based on what they call “a reasonable business case,” that subgrantees will contribute $22 billion in total matching funds on top of the $42 billion appropriated by Congress. That adds up to $64 billion in total funds available for BEAD projects. The same business case also leads the study’s authors to assume a cost of $9,000 per location, which ACA Connects characterizes as an “extremely high-cost threshold.”

The study then considers a pair of deployment scenarios. The “Baseline Fiber” scenario sees fiber reach only locations at or below the extremely high-cost threshold, while the “Maximum Fiber” approach deploys fiber to additional, higher-cost locations. The Baseline Fiber scenario would see 71% of the estimated 7.4 million eligible locations receive fiber and the remainder would receive fixed wireless or other technologies, at a total cost of $45 billion. In the Maximum Fiber scenario, 82% of locations receive fiber and the total cost would be $59 billion. In both scenarios, money would be left over for connection of additional locations, the study authors conclude.

The study also considers scenarios in which other funding programs, such as the Capital Projects Fund, reduce the number of locations that BEAD funding would need to address by 10% and 15%. Not surprisingly, the BEAD funding would stretch further in such scenarios, the report confirms.

As was the case in the previous version, Version 3.0 of the study contains not only a national framework but a framework for each state. The study is available on the ACA Connects website.

“Congress and NTIA made the right call when they established fiber as the preferred broadband technology for BEAD projects. Fiber connectivity will be a game-changer for rural households and communities across the country that lack quality broadband options today,” commented ACA Connects President and CEO Grant Spellmeyer.