- The CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association slammed the idea of SpaceX getting BEAD funds
- The CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association said there’s not enough BEAD funding to take fiber everywhere
- Meanwhile, the NTIA will have the final say on alternative technologies.
Everyone really let their proverbial hair down and spoke candidly about the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program during the last panel at last week’s Mountain Connect show in Denver.
The normally reserved Gary Bolton, CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), kicked off the panel by slamming SpaceX’s Starlink whose president and COO had said the day prior that the company was interested in bidding for BEAD funds.
Then, Gwynne Shotwell said the company was still talking to NTIA about the rules of the program. But Bolton said he thought using federal funding for low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite broadband coverage was “absurd.” He said SpaceX’s top boss Elon Musk already has his roadmap set for deploying Starlink satellites.
“Whether he gets funding or not, people can subscribe to Starlink,” said Bolton. “Elon Musk — for $300 million — is not going to put up a single incremental satellite.”
Bolton said it would be a big “cop out” if the BEAD program left the most difficult-to-reach locations to satellite broadband. He also noted that Starlink satellites have a short lifespan of about five years. And the vision for BEAD is to close the digital divide for the long term.
The U.S. government managed to reach every rural location with electricity in the 1930s — so surely it can now reach those locations with fiber broadband, Bolton said, beating his usual drum.
WISPA has a different perspective
David Zumwalt, CEO of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA), had a completely different viewpoint. He argued that there’s not going to be enough BEAD funds to reach everyone with fiber. And it’s a no-brainer that other technologies such as fixed wireless access (FWA) will be required.
Zumwalt also said that people don’t really need the incredibly high speeds of fiber. He said the average speed utilization at the residential level is 6.5 Mbps. “The marketing plan you buy is not related to your actual usage,” said Zumwalt. “We’re over deploying broadband capacity now.” He said other types of utility services are “demand engineered” based on actual need.
Bolton countered that “average data rates don’t tell you anything, because it’s all about peaking.” He said applications and bandwidth track each other. “You know how Netflix dumbs down to meet the lowest quality network?” said Bolton. “Higher bandwidth is just a better quality experience.”
He also said we’re on the verge of major paradigm shifts with quantum networks and artificial intelligence. “If you’re going to be stuck on something other than infrastructure that can give you limitless capacity, you’re going to be on the wrong side.”
But Zumwalt said, “BEAD is about serving the unserved. There’s six million unserved today. It’s more important than hundreds of millions [of dollars] going into serving every American with fiber.”
A little calmness
It’s to be expected that the leader of the Fiber Broadband Association and the leader of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association would have clashing viewpoints. Other panelists were less strident.
Kevin Morgan, chief marketing officer for Clearfield, said 60% of the vendor’s revenue comes from carriers serving rural areas. And Clearfield is providing all of its customers with fiber products. He acknowledged there are areas where fixed wireless would be a good fit, and he said in those areas fiber can at least be deployed deeper and then FWA can be used to reach the last mile.
Morgan said, “The thing I worry about with competing technologies in terms of wireless is that historically, the spectrum is there, and they can get the networks up and running, but as bandwidth demands increase, they run out of spectrum. When you have fiber to the home, you’re not going to run out of spectrum.”
Jeff Galvinski, chairman of the Mountain Connect show, said, “There needs to be a dose of reality here. With regards to BEAD, there are going to be places, especially high-cost areas, that aren’t bid on because they’re too expensive.”
Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has said it will soon be releasing new guidelines related to alternative technologies that can be used with BEAD funds. So despite the lively conversation at Mountain Connect, NTIA will decide if unlicensed fixed wireless and LEO satellite technologies can be used for BEAD projects.
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