Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
SURF Internet says federal BEAD rule changes likely to shift LaSalle County awards toward wireless; asks board members for outreach letters
Summary
Steve Carinder of SURF Internet told the LaSalle County Board on June 9 that recent Department of Commerce changes to the federal BEAD program will likely favor wireless and satellite solutions over fiber, delaying local builds and prompting SURF to ask district board members to provide outreach letters to help secure required easements.
Steve Carinder of SURF Internet told the LaSalle County Board on June 9 that recent changes in federal guidance for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program are likely to shift funding and awards away from fiber toward wireless and low‑Earth‑orbit satellite solutions, and that the change will delay local projects.
Carinder said SURF had been “preliminarily awarded” large fiber areas in LaSalle County under an earlier interpretation of the BEAD rules but that new Department of Commerce and NTIA guidance means the company now expects a “high likelihood” those areas will be serviced by wireless solutions. He told the board the change could produce “at least a 180‑day” delay to the program timetable.
The company representative described a county‑scale fiber plan…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
