{"id":72565,"date":"2025-08-27T16:47:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?post_type=podcast&p=72565"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:48:10","slug":"vague-bead-guidance-broadband","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/radio\/vague-bead-guidance-broadband\/","title":{"rendered":"How vague BEAD guidance could lead to broadband disparities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jennifer Hickerson, a senior manager who specializes in telecommunications at the professional services firm Baker Tilly, joins the Priorities Podcast this week to explain how changes to the BEAD program are affecting the outcomes in states. Final proposal submissions from states are due next week. Each state has been a different approach to how it seeks vendors and the types of technologies it pursues. Hickerson says states that have been advertising to vendors an emphasis on lowest cost have seen more responses from satellite and fixed wireless vendors. \u201cThat message really seems to have an impact on applicants,\u201d she says. \u201cThose who really needed to drive down those costs in a way that was no longer sustainable started to question whether it was worth it to apply for this program. It also gave the message that some technologies might fare better in applying for the BEAD program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top stories this week:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In a letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Arielle Roth, administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 10 Democrats from the House of Representatives are asking for clarification<\/a> on how states can use \u201cnondeployment\u201d funds they are set to soon receive through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. The letter asks for clarification on how states can use their BEAD funding for projects not directly related to building out new fiber networks or installing wireless towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two cybersecurity incidents disabled state services over the weekend. A service in Maryland that provides transportation to people with disabilities is unable to take<\/a> new reservations. And a number of Nevada\u2019s websites<\/a>, services and phone lines, including those for the Nevada Highway Patrol and Nevada State Police, faced outages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Texas legislature has passed<\/a> several pieces of legislation aimed at strengthening protections for young campers after devastating floods last month left more than two dozen campers and counselors dead at Camp Mystic. The legislation would create new rules pertaining to alerts, emergency plans and where camps are allowed to operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New episodes of StateScoop\u2019s<\/em> Priorities Podcast<\/em><\/a> are posted each Wednesday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more of the latest news and trends across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on<\/em> Apple Podcasts<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> Google Podcasts<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>Soundcloud<\/em><\/a> or<\/em> Spotify<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Hickerson, with Baker Tilly, joins the podcast to share how changes to BEAD rules are influencing the broadband landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":72567,"template":"","meta":{"disable_grayscale_images":true,"grayscale_contrast":0,"sponsored_content":null,"display_author_bio":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23264],"tags":[5287,23595,24700,25131,25132,25822],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[4678],"show":[23743],"class_list":["post-72565","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-priorities-podcast","tag-broadband","tag-bead","tag-government-policy","tag-technology-news","tag-government-news","tag-it-policy","author-statescoop-staff","show-priorities"],"yoast_head":"\nHow vague BEAD guidance could lead to broadband disparities | StateScoop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jennifer Hickerson, with Baker Tilly, joins the podcast to share how changes to BEAD rules are influencing the broadband 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