The biggest Internet service providers will dominate a $42.45 billion broadband grant program unless the Biden administration changes a rule requiring grant recipients to obtain a letter of credit from a bank, according to a joint statement from consumer advocacy groups, local government officials, and advocates for small ISPs.
The letter sent today to US government officials argues that “by establishing capital barriers too steep for all but the best-funded ISPs, the LOC [letter-of-credit requirement] shuts out the vast majority of entities the program claims to prioritize: small and community-centered ISPs, minority and women-owned ISPs, nonprofits, and municipalities.”
The rule is part of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program that’s being administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
The only ISPs that can compete are ones using existing power line infrastructure, so utility companies and cooperatives.
Tried that. You get a lot of errors in power line delivery.
My grandmother lives in a very rural area and gets gigabit because of her cooperative. They do work in some places at least.
If it worked well at scale, the power companies would be in with both feet. It doesn’t