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Region 9 representative urges Montezuma County to press NTIA to preserve BEAD 'non‑deployment' funds for middle‑mile projects
Summary
A Region 9 representative told county commissioners that a recent NTIA rule change could put roughly $400 million in state-level broadband funds at risk and asked the county to add pressure to keep that money available for larger middle‑mile projects connecting communities.
Mr. Powers, a Region 9 representative, briefed Montezuma County commissioners on the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program and related 'non-deployment' funds. He said BEAD and related grant rules have emphasized last-mile builds to households, which can leave larger middle-mile trunk and redundancy projects unaddressed, and that a recent National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) rule change could put approximately $400 million in state-level funds at risk of being rescinded for those middle‑mile uses.
Mr. Powers asked the board to add to pressure on federal authorities to preserve flexibility at the state level to use leftover BEAD or related non‑deployment funds for larger trunk or middle‑mile projects. “They built the program kinda backwards,” he said, adding that last-mile builds without middle‑mile connections can leave communities without resilient, redundant networks. He used a highway analogy to illustrate the point and cited outreach by U.S. senators to the NTIA urging flexibility.
Commissioners responded that the middle‑mile connectivity issue is straightforward and important for redundancy; no formal county action was recorded beyond the presentation and the verbal request to support the state’s advocacy to federal agencies.
