The BEAD Blueprint: Navigating the Revisions

Understanding the New BEAD Rules

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has significantly revised the BEAD program rules. Here’s what’s changed:

• Resubmission of Plans: All states and territories must now resubmit their deployment plans.
• Technology Neutrality: The previous preference for end-to-end fiber is gone. Priority projects are now defined by speed (at least 100/20 Mbps with latency ≤ 100 milliseconds), allowing for more flexibility in technology choices like Fixed Wireless Access (FWA).
• Focus on Cost-Effectiveness: States must conduct additional subgrantee selection rounds to ensure the lowest-cost broadband option, regardless of the technology used.
• Reduced Requirements: Several prior requirements, including those for workforce development, climate resiliency, and certain affordable broadband pricing, have been eliminated or weakened. However, offering at least one low-cost service option remains mandatory.
• Potential Delays: Experts predict that the need for states to redo plans and potential litigation could delay BEAD deployments until 2026 or even later.

How We Help Telecoms in the BEAD Era

ETI’s intelegrate offers solutions to these challenges.

• Streamlined Integration: Our low-code, cloud-based solution untangles complex integration challenges. This is vital as telecoms integrate diverse existing and new systems (fiber, FWA, Low-Earth Orbit satellite) to meet BEAD’s technology-neutral and lowest-cost mandates.
• Mitigating Funding Delays: With BEAD’s continued revisions causing funding delays through 2026, maximizing network operations is crucial. Intelegrate connects siloed data in days, not months, and its SaaS model significantly lowers costs.
• True Future-Proofing: Operators must introduce new technologies and services without excessive conversions or customer disruptions to stay competitive. Intelegrate makes integrations simple and maintains them automatically, ensuring no downtime, reducing manual hours, and providing genuine future-proofing.

As BEAD funding progresses, there’s no reason for operators to delay. ETI’s intelegrate provides essential integration solutions that boost operational efficiency and manage complex system integrations, helping telecoms thrive in this evolving environment.

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