Join Alejandro Piñero at Broadband Nation as he interviews Greg Bathrick, Area VP for Commercial Development at Calix. Bathrick explains the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) and its implications for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. He provides valuable advice for service providers on preparing BEAD applications, emphasizing the importance of early engagement with manufacturers and understanding FCC performance measurement requirements. Bathrick also highlights the self-certification program by NTIA and the need for future-proofing networks to meet evolving demands. This insightful discussion is essential for anyone involved in broadband infrastructure development.
Broadband Nation Expo Executive Interview on the BEAD Program
Helping ISP build a successful BEAD Network.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Broadband Nation. My name is Alejandro Piñero. Now I have the pleasure of speaking with Greg Bathrick, he’s Area Vice President for Commercial Development at Calix. Greg, Welcome. Thanks for joining us.
Greg Bathrick (Calix) – Thank you, Alejandro.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Wonderful, Greg. So, let’s talk about a big hot topic at this particular event, and of course, for the industry, which is all about BEAD and its requirements. Let me start at BABA. We’ve heard a lot lately about Build America Buy America. Can you perhaps start us out by explaining a little bit about what it is and how it works?
Greg Bathrick (Calix) – The Build America Buy America Act is part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which basically says that anything manufactured for that act would have to be manufactured in the United States. When it translates to the BEAD program, what does that mean? The Department of Commerce asked that question to key experts across the industry, both vendors as well as ISPs. And what they determined was, earlier this year, is that the end-to-end fiber access network, which includes the optical line termination, which sits in the network, the optical network termination, which sits on the side of the house, and the pluggable optics to drive the single back and forth would be Built in America. What would be waived or sourced overseas would be the home gateway. Anything that terminates that fiber but is part of a Wi-Fi gateway, and then the Layer 3 access box that sits typically to the internet.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Excellent, so thanks for that overview. So thinking about the service providers that are preparing to submit for BEAD, what do they need to know then or think about specifically on Build America Buy America and its impact on the process?
Greg Bathrick (Calix) – It could be a little daunting, but the NTIA has put together a program that will help both the states as well as the ISPs. And this program is a self-certification program where every major manufacturer reached out to the NTIA and self-certified their solutions. As part of that, you’ll get a very detailed list of what devices will be Built America Buy America. That information will be shared probably by the end of October, but don’t wait for that. You can reach out to any of your manufacturers today and get that information.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Great, so thinking then about the operations needed to submit the BEAD applications, what do service providers need to do now before we get into that whole process?
Greg Bathrick (Calix) – I’m glad you brought that up, because a lot of these things, you can’t start too early. Every application, every pre-qualification part of the BEAD program is going to require this information. So it’s very important that you reach out, the last thing you want to do is go through all the trouble of the application, win, and then find out that it was based on a design that did not take the key information into account. So now is the time you should be working with your manufacturers. Now is the time to reach out and get a certification letter from them so you become certified. And now is the time to build that to your network so your business case reflects the end solution.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Great, and so what about the FCC performance measurement
requirements? What impact do those have on BEAD applicants?
Greg Bathrick (Calix) – Yes, so that’s part of one of the key things of the BEAD program. 42 and a half billion dollars is being spent to build out these networks and serve millions of Americans. But What is the measurement that the states can come back and prove that they’ve met their goals? The NTIA put into the original NOFO a reference to this thing called the FCC Performance Measurement Act. And what that program says is that you need to test both speed and latency across the network. Give you a little more history on this. So, back in 2020, nearly 1,000 ISPs took these rules, and they built out and tested their CAF deployments, their ACAM deployments, and now moving forward with their RDOF deployments. So pretty key, a lot of experience out there. They need to test speed; they need to test latency to make sure that it’s proven. So, now we can get back to the BEAD program. We have the specification that has to be tested. The real question is when does the testing need to start? Those final details have not come out yet. However, a lot of states are getting worried as we’re getting closer to the build out. And what I’m hearing is that this testing may start as early as that first connectivity that you make between the network and the home subscriber. That connectivity test, which will be used back at the state and at the ISP to determine what reimbursement will be put forth. So time is of the essence for ISPs to start thinking about this.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Great. So what can applicants do now to prepare for this requirement?
Greg Bathrick (Calix) – If you were one of the 1,000 ISPs to test before, obviously you’re already in a very good position. And it’s probably going to be a very little lift to make sure that you can move forward and have this testing ready. But if you haven’t gone through it, what we saw back with the CAF and ACAM testing is it typically took about a year to really work it into your operations, whether it was setting up the scheduler, setting up the test server, or figuring out the mechanism that you’re turning on and turning off the testing at the subscriber’s home. So it’s really important that you
look at this early. Second thing, which is key. One of the key aspects of the CAF testing is that the government tells you who you need to test. Given that you as an ISP, you don’t typically have the knowledge of what needs to be turned on and turned off. The way you work around that, make sure that the test capability is built into every single subscriber’s home. So when you get that letter or email from the government that you need to test these 1,000 locations, you can just simply flip a switch and turn it on.
Alejandro Pinero (Questex) – Excellent, Greg. Well, thank you so much for joining us here today. It’s been great to hear your thoughts on the whole BEAD application and different requirements and we look forward to hearing more as we go through this whole process from you and your team.
Greg Bathrick (Calix) –Thank you.
