State broadband offices have had a busy 2024 juggling challenge processes, preparing for an onslaught of BEAD applications, stakeholder engagement and many more issues thrown at their mighty, but often small teams.&nbsp;Going forward, states should protect their legacy of success by ensuring that the five pitfalls of geospatial grant administration are avoided. These pitfalls are:<h3>1. Fragmented tools → fragmented results</h3>Offices that try to build in-house tools or repurpose off-the-shelf software built for very different purposes tend to see heavily fragmented workflows and heavily fragmented program outcomes. Your success depends on your vision being enforced throughout the full lifecycle of your program, which requires a holistic platform approach. &nbsp;<h3>2. GIS as an island&nbsp;</h3>Many offices deal with maps through the 1960's lens of GIS. They purchase exquisite GIS systems that spit out fancy maps with no real purpose beyond visual display. Success in your program requires integrated geospatial reasoning, not fancy maps. &nbsp;<h3>3. The myth of linear adjudication</h3>Approaching adjudication and deconfliction as linear processes that can be solved with manual effort leads to suboptimal outcomes at best and can be disastrous. Hundreds or even thousands of wasted hours can be one cost of this pitfall, and worse. Adjudication is a complex, non-linear, iterative process, ideally one your office carries out with participants over the course of your program. &nbsp;<h3>4. Audit-ready or not?</h3>Unhappy providers are already taking legal action against state offices. Sub-grantee audits by federal agencies are a given. Every step taken by every member of your office must be accounted for. Making sure you securely store all provider-submitted info, track all communications with providers, and having an audit trail of your program are keys to ensuring your office, and all of your sub-grantees are audit-ready. &nbsp;<h3>5. Post-award Hell</h3>Imagine not knowing where your program stands until a few months after sub-grantees submit self-reported, manually assembled reports. Either someone from your office or your consultant needs to chase down paperwork every few months, then spend dozens of hours processing results before you know whether or not you're on track.Now imagine knowing at a glance, in near real time, where your office stands across all of your programs, with no additional effort on your office's part.&nbsp;<h2>Here’s how you can avoid these pitfalls:&nbsp;</h2><h3>1. Use a purpose-built, single source of truth platform</h3>With the BEAD showdown on the horizon, state broadband offices cannot risk any threats to their progress, such as team changes, misplaced documents or shoddy mapping – which are the downstream consequences of purchasing off-the-shelf software that is not purpose built to tackle BEAD.The Ready State Platform allows for you to run your entire process from challenge to allocation inside a&nbsp;single&nbsp;platform. Through the platform, states will be able to build custom project areas and expand upon existing ones while also having a deconfliction &amp; adjudication engine that can be tailored to their specific visions.&nbsp;The platform’s built-in location revision feature allows SBOs to negotiate back and forth allowing for an ISP to “concede” or “expand” their project area allowing them to cover the entire area of another application or give up all of the conflicted locations.&nbsp; &nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/6cEBjBA.gif" width="800" height="449" alt="Director's Dashboard"></div>&nbsp;<h3>2. Integrate geospatial reasoning</h3>Under the BEAD program, state broadband offices face the Herculean task of ensuring that their state’s share of the $42.5 billion dollars leaves no family behind in broadband. To accomplish this, geospatial technology must be incorporated in every step of the grant administration process. Doing so ensures that locations are properly visualized, project areas are clearly defined and that their state’s mapping is the source of truth for the state’s broadband reality.The Ready State Platform incorporates geospatial technology into every step of the BEAD process. This means no more relying on spreadsheets and location files, but instead having a clear, easy-to-use mapping system throughout the process. &nbsp;<h3>3. Iterate to amazing</h3>Your office cannot afford to view adjudication as a one and done, fire and forget type of task. State broadband directors have to shift their perspective and view iterative adjudication as the best opportunity to ensure that families aren’t left behind on&nbsp; the wrong side of the digital divide.&nbsp;Using the State Platform, grantors can submit specific revision requests or file a bulk request to review the selection of an applicant’s serviceable areas, network design, project scope, budget, community impact, affordability, and certification certification.Having all of these functionalities on a single platform streamlines the process and allows for an iterative process with fewer opportunities for mis-inputs and miscommunications that could result in costly delays and missed opportunities; every change between versions is saved, thereby giving your office the ability to compare and track changes to better understand how applicants respond to your feedback.Ultimately, this will result in fewer locations being left behind, fewer wasted months of complex work between multiple platforms, and fewer potential audit failures and unforeseen legal risks for your office.&nbsp; &nbsp;<h3>4. Be ready to for an audit…or two</h3>The Ready State Platform ensures that states are federal audit-ready with numerous tools, including Proof of Passings in conjunction with the ongoing Challenge Process Coordinator map update.&nbsp;BEAD applicants will also undoubtedly have questions throughout the&nbsp;reviewing, scoring, deconfliction, and adjudication processes&nbsp;that must be answered quickly by their state broadband office. Effective communication is crucial for successful, data-driven state broadband offices.Your State Platform will grant the opportunity for you to seamlessly communicate with providers directly through the same platform guiding your BEAD process. This also means that your office will have a database of communication with each provider that can be referenced for customer success or strategic purposes in the future.&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Paperwork_vs_Real_Work_2_ec9dd452e5/Paperwork_vs_Real_Work_2_ec9dd452e5.jpg"></figure><h3>5. Automate reporting and compliance&nbsp;</h3>Attempting to manually adhere to reporting and compliance standards is a nonstarter. Offices have neither the luxury of time, the budget nor the manpower to do this work alone; reporting and compliance needs to be a seamless extension of reviewing, scoring, deconfliction, and adjudication.&nbsp;State broadband offices must hold all stakeholders to the highest standards of reporting and compliance. Throughout the BEAD process, states will face numerous federal audits and having a piecemeal program is a recipe for risk.&nbsp;States using the platform can ease the burden of reporting and compliance on both their office and providers while avoiding the market failure of previous broadband grant funding cycles.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Remember what’s at stake&nbsp;</h2>State broadband offices know what’s at stake for families relying on them to bring affordable, reliable broadband. BEAD is the country’s largest and arguably last major investment in broadband.&nbsp;In the Year of BEAD, states have accomplished so much towards this effort. Allowing the pitfalls of geospatial administration to erode this progress is an opportunity that neither states nor providers can afford.

Is your state making costly errors in BEAD grant administration?

Avoiding pitfalls in geospatial grant administration

avoiding-pitfalls-in-geospatial-grant-administration

Providers and local communities looking to apply for federal and state broadband funding will soon have a way to quickly collaborate and to estimate their network costs, thanks to a new partnership between Broadband.money and Nokia.&nbsp;The two companies <a href="https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2022/09/07/nokia-partners-with-broadbandmoney-to-help-connect-us-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unveiled the partnership on Wednesday</a> (and we're very excited about it, since Nokia has helped to unleash world-class broadband all over world.) The goal is to help local broadband providers to connect unserved and underserved communities in a cost-efficient way, and to put them on equal footing with more well-funded competitors.<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://twitter.com/jase/status/1566482815599792129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Freadynet%2FCommunity-Ambassadors-Meeting-September-6-2022-ad60be8a75fb4360b27393542d5691a1%23543cbb7e1a36424898b3cb2e734bec81"></oembed></figure>Broadband.money helps providers and communities visualize the scope of projects more easily with its platform, collaborate on grant applications and discover match funding. Nokia will provide Broadband.money users with access to tutorials, blueprint network designs and tools to help work out the equipment they will need, further simplifying the grant application process. The company is one of the first of other partners Broadband.money expects to work with to make the broadband grant application process as easy as possible.&nbsp;The platform enables providers and local communities to seamlessly coordinate online to develop evidence-based broadband grant proposals – all without the time-wasting burden of paper and unwieldy PDF files.Federal and state governments in the U.S. are committing billions to connect every resident to the internet at an affordable price. That's why Ready and Broadband.money are offering <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/get-broadband-grant-alerts-news/fcc-open-meeting-on-affordable-connectivity-program#comment_wrapper_10138562" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Turnkey ACP</a>. Broadband.money and Nokia are committed to helping everyone to reach those goals quickly, efficiently, and transparently. &nbsp;Successful grant applications for funding programs like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment, Middle Mile, Tribal, and Digital Equity programs require comprehensive data analysis. Broadband grant applicants need to present detailed information on proposed service areas, from socio-economic makeup to existing broadband connectivity available to residents, information on community anchor institutions and businesses, and physical information such as flooding risks and existing network assets.Broadband.money aids this process by providing geospatial insights, predictive analytics, business intelligence, broadband grant templates and empirical data in a collaborative, and easy-to-use interface. Grant applicants use the platform’s visualization, presentation and management tools to source data for custom-drawn areas, develop projects where they want to provide service, then manage ongoing reporting and compliance obligations throughout the full grant lifecycle.To complete their business cases, grant funding applicants also require specific details of the type of equipment that will be used and how much it will cost to build the planned network. Through this partnership, service providers and communities will now have access to blueprint network designs and equipment planning tools from Nokia to help them build their business case, hugely simplifying the grant application process.Nokia's network solutions <a href="https://www.nokia.com/about-us/company/worldwide-presence/north-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">connect about 90 percent of the US population</a>, and its fixed networks power more than 50 percent of the country's fixed telecommunications lines. It's one of the world's most venerable technology companies. So yeah, you can kind of say the company knows how to estimate the cost of networks.&nbsp;“America’s making its largest ever investment in broadband," said Jase Wilson, Ready.net's co-founder and CEO. "Every dollar must go to efficient, built-to-last local networks in order to deliver on NTIA (the National Telecommunications and Information Administration)'s vision for high-performance, affordable access for all. As the software and data platform for local providers, we’re honored to partner with Nokia – the worldwide leader in carrier-grade fiber networks.”For an easy-to-understand guide on how Broadband.money works, check out our “<a href="https://broadband.money/how-it-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How it Works</a>” page.For a comprehensive and clear guide on U.S. broadband funding, check out Nokia's guide: <a href="https://www.nokia.com/about-us/newsroom/articles/u-s-broadband-infrastructure-funding-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">US Broadband Infrastructure Funding Explained</a>.&nbsp;

Broadband.money and Nokia will help local broadband providers connect unserved and underserved communities. 

Broadband.money partners with Nokia to enable speedy broadband grant applications

Broadband.money-partners-with-Nokia-to-enable-speedy-broadband-grant-applications

<h2>Challenge Fabric</h2>This is a quick announcement of three key new product features in the cloud-based Ready broadband provider mapping platform, in time for challenging Fabric data and getting ready for BEAD grants:<ol><li>Location-level insights</li><li>Secondary addresses</li><li>Anchor institutions&nbsp;</li></ol><h3>Introducing Location-level Insights</h3>Subscribers can now use Ready’s mapping service to gain demand point-level insights (also known as Broadband Serviceable Locations in FCC / Fabric parlance) into potential new areas of coverage.&nbsp;As a broadband grant seeker or state broadband office, you’re now able to build detailed analyses of proposal areas at the most precise level possible: individual serviceable locations, as opposed to census block level.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/1_gif_fda2d4d216/1_gif_fda2d4d216.gif"></figure>Conduct more accurate analysis and research on where families and other subscribers live and aggregate as many demand points as possible for your BEAD grant application.&nbsp;<h3>Introducing Secondary Addresses</h3>Now the broadband grants mapping platform offers you the ability to count additional demand points located at secondary addresses like apartment buildings.&nbsp;This is important for BEAD grant applicants because you need to capture the true number of subscribers you aim to serve. The Federal Communications Commission’s fabric map undercounts secondary addresses since it counts multiple dwelling units like apartment buildings as one “broadband serviceable location.”With broadband.money’s broadband grant mapping platform you can estimate a more accurate demand level within complex multi-dwelling unit situations such as apartment buildings that might house 100 or families – rather than the one that would be counted in the FCC’s fabric. This enables BEAD applicants to apply for and defend a truly reflective share of grants that fund the requisite amount of work that needs to be completed to serve all 100 families.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/2_ae4bf61cc4/2_ae4bf61cc4.png"></figure><h3>Map and Engage Anchor Institutions</h3>In IIJA, the White House set a goal of getting “Internet to All.” However, FCC’s Fabric map omits anchor institutions entirely.&nbsp;That omission is at odds with the intent of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which specifically instructs the administration to cover small anchor institutions (like libraries) without gigabit level service.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/3_382fe1fd38/3_382fe1fd38.png"></figure>The platform has you covered: Explore anchor institutions by provider, level of service, and proximity to serviceable broadband locations. The broadband grant mapping platform shows you anchor institutions such as libraries, hospitals, churches and others – in addition to commercial entities in your area.&nbsp;Enroll now for these tools and many more on your quest to win and defend broadband grants.&nbsp;<h3>Broadband Audits</h3>We've also mapped every local jurisdiction's broadband connectivity profile.<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-audits" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Broadband audits </a>establish the ground truth of America's broadband reality. Each broadband audit tracks crucial data ranging from internet speeds and broadband coverage to demographic and spatial information for a given place.&nbsp;Discover <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/unserved-location" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unserved </a>and <a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/underserved-location" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">underserved </a>broadband areas at the state, city, county, and tribal community level. Use this as an alternative to Fabric to win and defend your fair share of the largest ever broadband grant funding program in history.

This is a quick announcement of three key new product features in the cloud-based Ready broadband provider mapping platform, in time for challenging Fabric data and getting ready for BEAD grants.

Announcing Serviceable Location-level Insights, Secondary Addresses, and Anchor Institution Data

announcing-serviceable-location-level-insights-secondary-addresses-and-anchor-institution-data-1

large_Ready-Net-OG-Image.png

medium_Ready-Net-OG-Image.png

small_Ready-Net-OG-Image.png

thumbnail_Ready-Net-OG-Image.png

Ready-Net-OG-Image.png

United Fiber, a subsidiary of United Electric Cooperative, has deployed broadband to more than 50 communities across northwest Missouri, including some of the state’s most rural areas.And that is only the beginning, United Fiber’s general manager Darren Farnan said.The electric co-op, among the most rural in the state, has since 2010 connected more than 50 communities across the region including a current project where it is expected to provide broadband service to the entire city of St. Joseph, Missouri which has a population of roughly 80,000 people.“While it might seem like an overnight success, it isn’t,” Farnan said. &nbsp;“It happened by taking risks, showing our success and continuing to grow at each opportunity.”Since the early 2000s, the Maryville, Missouri-based electric co-op provided satellite internet service but was aware that customers would inevitably outgrow the service. This led to applying and being awarded $21 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for all 14 of its substations, or 5000 passes in 2010.“Almost 90% did not have access, according to our survey at that time, to [4 Mbps download by 1 Mbps upload] which was the definition of broadband at that time,” Farnan said.During the building process, United Fiber began generating interest from nearby communities, such as Cameron and King City. King City’s population was around 5,000 while nearby Cameron boasted 10,000 residents and owned their own poles making the process even cheaper.Meanwhile, Mosaic Life Care, a major healthcare provider in nearby St. Joseph, Missouri, reached out requesting that United Fiber provide broadband service to 13 of its buildings. United Fiber, while connecting Mosaic, eventually connected 100 additional businesses on the same build.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Quote_1_3a1fd856dc/Quote_1_3a1fd856dc.png"></figure>“We probably weren’t ready for all of that, in hindsight, but you have to strike while the iron is hot,” Farnan said. “We started building many of these communities by just building through Main Street in order to connect critical businesses like banks and community anchor institutions, such as schools and health centers, since we didn’t have enough financial backing at the time.”Starting early has paid dividends for United Fiber which was awarded $61 million from federal and state funding to deploy broadband to some of Missouri’s most rural communities.An early start and commitment to building smaller communities first not only impressed grantors, but the co-op’s lenders who were initially hesitant to fund their efforts.“Our loans initially would start off at between $3-5 million dollars per build, which isn’t as much as it sounds when you’re factoring building two and a half meters per mile, but we’d start building slowly and show results over a period of roughly three years.”Similar to other co-ops considering expanding into broadband, United Fiber’s earlier risks were deciding to provide broadband service to non-member areas and navigating reporting and compliance.“There’s plenty of new challenges for co-ops to navigate, but on the bright side, there’s also more than 200 co-ops who have successfully done this providing plenty of models to look after,” Farnan said. “<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/davis-bacon-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Davis-Bacon</a> compliance and managing your asset base are some of the big risks and it’s important to remember that we’re in a business known to avoid risk. There’s also, on the other hand, so many resources out there, including Broadband USA and Ready, to overcome this.”United Fiber, meanwhile, decided to provide broadband service outside of its member area by comparing its strengths to competitors and tackling smaller projects with plans to grow over time.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Quote_2_085bfdc211/Quote_2_085bfdc211.png"></figure>“It takes some creativity to say that we can provide a service that’s much better than what’s out there and build some areas outside our member footprint that can actually benefit our members,” Farnan said. “It’s not too different from the electric utility business other than it being a bit more competitive but it also brings more flexibility as there’s areas that we couldn’t serve electrically but are now able to provide broadband service to.”The risks seem to have paid off, as well. More than 80% of United Fiber’s broadband customers are not electric customers with the company anticipating more than 30,000 subscribers in St. Joseph, Missouri upon completion of the build. &nbsp;

he secret sauce includes strategic thinking, measuring risks and building wins.

United Fiber’s path to bringing broadband to northwest Missouri’s rural communities

united-fibers-path-to-bringing-broadband-to-northwest-missouri-s-rural-communities

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/In_blog_graphic_9_02f45fb93e/In_blog_graphic_9_02f45fb93e.png"></figure>Rural electric cooperatives, or RECs, have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in BEAD, a $42.5 billion broadband grant program aimed at connecting families to affordable, reliable broadband service.&nbsp;&nbsp;The stakes couldn’t be higher. If you don’t apply for BEAD, others will and they might not have your members’ best interests in mind. Co-ops like yours can, should and frankly must apply for your share of BEAD.&nbsp;Many aspects of BEAD seem daunting to RECs and co-ops like yours have built in advantages in applying for America’s largest and quite possibly last investment in broadband infrastructure.While many aspects of BEAD look daunting, RECs and Co-ops like yours have several unique built-in advantages when it comes to applying for your share of our nation’s largest-ever broadband bet.&nbsp;BEAD grants, like most government broadband grant programs, require matching funds from other sources in order to qualify for grant funding.&nbsp;In order to qualify for BEAD, applicants must have at least 25% matching funds in most states and cases. It might not be known, however, that these matching funds don’t need to provided in cash or bringing 100% of the equity or credit and lending to the table.&nbsp;This leads to our first BEAD Hidden Truth of Matching Funds.&nbsp;<h2>Your built-in goldmine&nbsp;</h2>Rural electric cooperatives, or RECs, have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use existing infrastructure as matching funds through the BEAD program.&nbsp;For more than 90 years, RECs have served as great stewards of public resources building physical plants, right of ways and service delivery infrastructure for electricity to thousands of member homes.&nbsp;That prior investment is valuable – literally – as an eligible in-kind BEAD matching fund contribution.&nbsp;In fact, you can count the value of your existing right of way, infrastructure, and make ready cost savings compared to what greenfield actors would need to invest in order to replace what you’ve already built.&nbsp;In some cases, the total value of those assets would exceed the minimum 25% matching fund contribution out of the gates.&nbsp;If your rural electric cooperative, for example, is applying for a $100 million BEAD award, it needs to have $25 million, or 25%, in matching funds in order to qualify.&nbsp;Initially, you might dismiss this as possible since you may not have $25 million in liquid assets or feel comfortable about acquiring a $25 million loan.Let’s say, however, that your electric plant is appraised at $30 million, by a qualified right-of-way appraiser. You now possess 30% of the matching funds for your BEAD award.&nbsp;Perhaps, your cooperative decides that it will offer 50% off for the first 10,000 homes to sign up for a period of two years. This comes at a cost of $5 million to the cooperative, but under BEAD guidelines, it is classified as an “in-kind contribution” that can be used towards matching funds.&nbsp;Another potential source of matching funds can be through a vendor providing a discount for the project. If a vendor provides a 20% discount on equipment, the difference between the original price and the discounted price can be counted towards matching funds.&nbsp;In the hypothetical outlined above, using these three sources alone would result in $40 million, or 40%, of necessary matching funds. And that’s before you even have to think about liquid assets or potential loans.&nbsp;<h2>It’s not a loan which means&nbsp;no collateral necessary</h2>The process begins with applicants acquiring a right-of-way appraisal from a private valuation entity to assign the value of your assets and count that in your application.&nbsp;This is not the same as pledging your assets as collateral against a loan, which was historically required in prior broadband funding programs and REC broadband consortium schemes.&nbsp;Utilizing this goldmine at your disposal is critical because&nbsp;if you don’t apply for BEAD funds, your competition will.&nbsp;<h2>You can’t afford to lose in BEAD&nbsp;</h2>Losing out on BEAD is bigger than any missed business opportunity because it won’t be just your loss, but instead a loss to the families and communities you serve.&nbsp;You owe it to your customers to ensure that taxpayer funding is best spent by providers eager to help their communities close the digital divide.

If you don’t apply for BEAD, your competition will.

BEAD Hidden Truth: Your rural electric co-op is (probably) sitting on a matching funds goldmine

bead-hidden-truth-your-rural-electric-co-op-is-probably-sitting-on-a-matching-funds-goldmine

Ready is excited to partner with Calix to help providers get the resources they need in order to connect more families and business to better services.“We’ve heard from numerous providers across the country, but especially in rural communities, that BEAD’s requirements are onerous and its rules are difficult to understand. This partnership will allow us to simplify, streamline, and provide more opportunities for local providers to win at BEAD,” Scott D. Woods, Ready’s President, Public-Private Partnerships said. “This further continues Ready’s commitment to our mission to bring better broadband services to every single household – regardless of geographic location or any other demographic barrier.”Ready’s tools, including <a href="https://ready.net/products/bead-grant-reporting-automation-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">automated reporting and compliance</a>, will dramatically simplify each stage of the funding process for Calix’s customers. Ready’s platform, Broadband.money, will be available for customers to use to gain resources and tools necessary for BEAD success.Calix is a key player in supporting its customers in deploying and complying with federal and state government funding programs. Over the past three years, the company has secured over $2 billion in federal and state funding programs including $650 million in green energy funds for Allo Communications.&nbsp; &nbsp;

This partnership will allow rural providers easier access to win and manage BEAD grant funds to connect more households

Ready excited to partner with Calix to help broadband providers win

ready-calix

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/truth2inblog_c3657617b0/truth2inblog_c3657617b0.png"></figure>As many cooperatives discover that they are sitting on a&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/bead-hidden-truth-your-rural-electric-co-op-is-probably-sitting-on-a-matching-funds-goldmine]">BEAD goldmines</a>, it raises an important question: Can cooperatives win in BEAD without becoming ISPs, or internet service providers?&nbsp;The answer is a resounding yes – and doing so can bring an additional revenue stream to cooperatives for their existing infrastructure.&nbsp;Cooperatives possess a powerful legacy as&nbsp;public resource stewards alongside decades of success delivering critical services to members. Many are uninterested in pivoting their operations and becoming an ISP, but&nbsp;don't want their members to lose in BEAD.&nbsp;Under BEAD and IIJA, or Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act guidance, these cooperatives can form partnerships between ISP operators and other stakeholders, such as other cooperatives and other infrastructure owners.&nbsp;Cooperatives applying alongside an ISP are not only competitive for BEAD, but can also create an additional revenue stream. Under the partnership agreement, a cooperative can use their existing infrastructure to charge the partner ISP a monthly fee. This fee can be assessed on a per passing or per subscriber can include maintenance costs for the right-of-way infrastructure.&nbsp;&nbsp;Finding a trustworthy partner&nbsp;Cooperatives should prioritize finding a trustworthy ISP partner that will allow for cooperatives to maintain the trust of its customers.&nbsp;The most trustworthy partners are cooperatives that have successfully begun operating as ISPs, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/united-fibers-path-to-bringing-broadband-to-northwest-missouri-s-rural-communities">United Fiber</a>. These cooperatives possess an intimate understanding of structure and expectations of cooperatives, but also understand what is necessary to successfully deploy broadband.&nbsp;It’s important that both cooperatives are aligned on what is at stake in partnerships as they must last at least a decade, per BEAD guidelines.&nbsp;BEAD is a&nbsp;golden opportunity for cooperatives to bring broadband to their members – even if they don't want to be an ISP. It simply can’t afford to be missed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Want to learn more?&nbsp;Be sure to check out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.broadband.io/c/broadband-grant-events/hidden-truths-about-bead">Hidden Truths of BEAD</a> featuring Darren Farnan, general manager of United Fiber, and Jase Wilson, founder and CEO of Ready, on Friday, March 29 at 2:30 pm.&nbsp;

BEAD can be a win-win for co-ops who don’t want to be an ISP   

Hidden Truth: You don’t need to become an ISP to win in BEAD

hidden-truth-you-don-t-need-to-become-an-isp-to-win-in-bead

If you’re reading this, and you rely on a local ISP for internet access, will you please consider sharing? It could help them make it through this difficult time. Thank you.America’s thousands of local ISPs connect tens of millions of households to the internet. Since our national strategy relies so heavily on the internet in order to work, learn, and receive healthcare from home, local ISPs are vital to our making through the Coronavirus pandemic. Yet many of them will not survive the accompanying economic recession, due to a lethal combo:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>Sudden sharp decline in revenue, from subscriber hardship</li><li>Comparable or increased costs. Their “backhaul” isn’t cheaper; if anything the spike in bandwidth has added to costs. They must pay their crews to keep folks connected, with all-new social distancing precautions slowing down already tedious work.</li></ul>Ready helps local ISPs grow. That can mean acquiring new subscribers, but far more importantly, it means retaining existing subscribers and extending the value of services delivered to those subscribers. As COVID19 economic losses deepen, local ISPs are beginning to shoulder a difficult burden.Local ISPs: here’s one technique you can use to weather the COVID19 storm. In this example, we show the smart collections logic of Ready’s subscription management system, but you can apply the principles no matter what tools you’re using.This technique applies the following principles:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>Above all, stay safe out there. Help your subscribers do the same.</li><li>Balance profitability with compassion.</li><li>Believe in a near-future recovery, and help make it happen by staying alive.</li></ul>Two statements are equally true:<ol><li>On the other side of every delinquent account sits a family of human beings who depend on the internet.</li><li>You run a business, not a charity, you need cash flow to stay in business.</li></ol>So … what would you do if a major portion of your subscribers haven’t paid you for months? That’s a scary question, and seems like a no-win scenario, but here’s a win-win solution:<h4>Offer “use-anytime” payment credits in exchange for long-term contract signups.</h4>Put another way, trade a portion of today’s Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) for Total Contract Value (TCV). You “invest” a few months worth of deferred MRR into a long-dated boost to your TCV.Since Ready gives you all the tools you need to implement this strategy, you can schedule a demo as a free consultation. Or keep reading the steps below to implement them on your own.<h2>Grow Smarter. Faster. Stronger.</h2>Ready’s all-in-one platform for growing ISPs makes it easy to manage subscriptions, accept online payments, and offer long-term contract plans to subscribers. Learn how Ready can help you grow. Request a demo today.<h3>Step 1: Evaluate Your Situation</h3>If you saw a double-digit spike in your accounts aging last month, you’re not alone. And our guess is you’re not looking at the last of them. It will almost certainly get worse before it gets better. What if half of your accounts fall delinquent in the coming months?<h3>Step 2: Plan Your Offer</h3>Work out the MRR you need to survive. From this, you’ll calculate an offer that helps your subscribers and you. The goal is to offer a few months worth of “use anytime” credits in exchange for longer-term contract signups.Focus on required survival MRR, since if you do this right, it will very easy to more than make up for the foregone revenue in absolute dollars, as you’re effectively investing a few months of otherwise late payments into a few years worth of contracted revenue. You may even be able to furnish a discount for extended periods, and cross-sell additional services to end up ahead.Decide what contract durations, discount levels, and bundles work best for your business. Here’s an example:Three months of use-anytime credits in exchange for a 2-year contract at 100% plan price, OR 4 months of use-anytime credits in exchange for a 3-year contract at 75% of contract price.To enhance the economics, and make the offer more valuable to your subscribers, consider upsells and cross-sells you can use to further monetize the contracted subscriptions.Here’s an example:Add another month of use-anytime credit in exchange for 1 year of Upgraded Plan.If you’re like most local ISPs, your residential subscriber base is month-to-month (even though every national incumbent utilizes contracts for residential service). Ready’s subscription management system makes it easy to configure, offer, and enforce subscription contract plans, including credits. Learn more here.<h3>Step 3: Make The Offer</h3>Let all of your subscribers know you care and present the offer. If they’re late on internet payment, they may be worried about what you’re going to do.<h4>🔑: Announce your offer to all subscribers at once.</h4>Announce your offer to all subscribers, not just currently delinquent accounts, since:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>The problem may deepen next month.</li><li>You never know who is paying you their last dollar for fear you’ll turn them off when they could be using that money for something urgent.</li><li>If you did the offer math correctly, the unit economics of your offer are net positive to your long-term growth, so, the more subscribers who take your deal, the stronger you’ll emerge on the other side.</li><li>Word of your offer may spread. Offering to all subscribers is a great way to be consistent and transparent.</li><li>Subscribers not struggling to make payments may appreciate the offer and think of the good you’re doing in the community in their future decisions.</li></ul><h4>🔑 : Make it a (mostly chatbot) conversation.</h4>Now is the time to engage in conversation with large numbers of subscribers. You need to go beyond emailing a link for this technique to land, in order to discuss the situation with the portion of your subscribers who need to work out details with you. Your message is “Talk to us. We’re here for you.” But having hundreds or potentially thousands of conversations isn’t feasible without help from tech.Thankfully, there’s a bot for that. Use chatbots to automate the start of your conversations, routing special cases to your busy subscriber happiness team.Ready’s all-in-one ISP subscriber management system integrates with FreshChat and Hubspot for website messaging. Both offer easy-to-integrate chatbots. Configure a special topic to trigger your COVID19 offer flow.Here’s an example configuration, inspired by one of our customers:‍<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/ready_smart_collection_flow_a078c70fd0/ready_smart_collection_flow_a078c70fd0.png">This flow:<ol><li>Respects each subscriber’s privacy and situation</li><li>Makes it clear to delinquent subscribers that action is required, with an easy path to win-win</li><li>Gives the subscriber ample time to remedy the situation</li><li>Avoids the heartache of absolute shutoff during extreme crisis</li></ol>Here’s what it looks like implemented:<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/ready_app_91841af57e/ready_app_91841af57e.png">‍<h4>🔑: Make it easy to accept and administer the offer.</h4><ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>The chatbot’s job is to route subscribers to the offer page while keeping a potential line of communication open for further conversation with a human member of your team. Link your chatbot to your deferred payment service subscription offer page.</li><li>If the subscriber raises additional questions or issues or wants to discuss alternatives with you, you’ll get alerted and can engage accordingly.</li><li>For subscribers who accept your offer, keep service intact</li><li>For subscribers who go delinquent without accepting, offer a graceful downgrade path to 1/1 “lifeline” bare connection – this avoids complete service disruption but halts bandwidth-intensive entertainment uses like Netflix</li><li>For subscribers who have a special situation, and cannot or will not accept your offer, you can engage in a conversation, then decide what to do on a case-by-case basis</li></ul>Ready’s subscriber self-serve signup system integrates directly into your existing website, making it a breeze to set up the offer landing page.Ready’s subscription management system integrates with a wide range of provisioning systems, making it easy to auto-provision based on the account payment status logic you configure.Use this method to turn lemons into lemonade. From crises emerge seeds of opportunity for tomorrow’s strongest businesses.Ready is purpose-built to make smart collections routing as painless as possible for your ISP subscription management. Schedule a demo to learn how Ready can help you survive and thrive.<h2>Ready is here to help.</h2>Schedule a free consultation.

America’s thousands of local ISPs connect tens of millions of households to the internet. Since our national strategy relies so heavily on the internet in order to work, learn, and receive healthcare from home, local ISPs are vital to our making through the Coronavirus pandemic.

One Way Local ISPs Can Survive COVID-19

one-way-local-isps-can-survive-covid-19

Your local ISP is the only thing keeping you and your community adequately connected to the global economy. And they do it with one metaphorical hand tied behind the back, while blindfolded and barefoot.Nonsense? Consider this: without competition from your local ISP, the incumbent provider whose slice of the telecom oligopoly’s territory covers your community would raise prices, reduce investment in already-inadequate infrastructure, directly harm your community in subtle ways, and, worst of all, prevent you and your community from accessing the coming wave of life-enhancing digital services.Your local ISP quietly keeps order in your community, though you might not even know they exist. They are the Rangers on the border of your Shire, every day fighting copper monsters, safeguarding you from evils you know not.Even if you don’t use their services – and statistically you almost certainly don’t, though maybe you should? – your local ISP’s willingness to work hard to serve your community is the only thing keeping your access to the internet reasonably good.Your local ISP, which could be a local business, a Rural Electric Cooperative, a broadband coop, or even your town itself, is the caped hero saving your ass from the digital dark ages.Today, there are just over 2,700 ISPs in America, up 20% from 5 years ago. That roughs out to one ISP for every 50,000 homes. But greater than half of connected American households use one of two cable companies for internet service at home. And more Americans than ever access the internet through outdated copper connections, legacies of the cable and landline phone era, owned and operated by a shrinking pool of giant companies.Today, it’s easier than ever to start a local ISP. Equipment prices have fallen dramatically. Ingenious startups like <a href="https://althea.net/">Althea</a> work to enable anyone to become an ISP. There’s even a thoughtful <a href="https://startyourownisp.com/">guide for starting your own ISP</a>, emerging <a href="https://sonar.software/">b2b solutions for small ISPs</a>, <a href="https://www.vetrofibermap.com/">powerful mapping tools</a> for planning networks, and a flourishing <a href="http://www.wispa.org/">community of WISPs</a>(wireless internet service providers) working to connect folks using wireless technologies. <a href="https://www.common.net/">Common</a> is a personal favorite example here in the Bay Area. I expect they’ll be very big someday and that their ascent will set a good example that will keep incumbents on their toes wherever they decide to go.Today, incumbent telecom ISPs hold the distinction of having the <a href="https://customergauge.com/benchmarks/blog/telecommunications-nps-benchmarks-and-cx-trends">lowest Net Promoter Scores</a> of any kind of business. Even lower than banks. Yet people still choose the incumbent, for many perfectly sensible reasons. Many do so because that is the only choice they know. Others do so out of desire to access television. Others still are lured away from local providers by introductory offers, even when the local ISP offers measurably better service, which is very often the case.It’s a puzzle until you look closely at the subtle structural disadvantages designed to hold your local ISP down.The internet is the largest thing we’ve ever created, and almost certainly the most transformative technology in the history of humankind. It turned 50 a few months ago. There is a digital transformation well underway in every industry thanks to the internet’s global connective tissue.But there is a problem in America, one that will soon escalate into a full-scale crisis, as the sun rises on the digital services era. As we head into 2020, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-fccs-broadband-coverage-maps-are-way-off/">Microsoft estimates</a> that 160 million Americans still lack access to even the lowest acceptable quality of broadband.It’s vital we ensure access for all. Because we now live in the connected economy. There is a new economic operating system, one that will enable remote work, distributed healthcare, immersive entertainment, rural prosperity, and many great outcomes enabled by digital services in ways I’m not creative enough to think up. But the next wave of digital service providers will.The abysmal state of U.S. information infrastructure will grow very painfully obvious over the next few years, as life-enhancing digital services begin to thrive in today’s very small, very fortunate connected enclaves. Meanwhile, connected people and places will continue racing ahead.Despite their colossal size and unprecedented power, there are many surprising structural reasons why large incumbent ISPs are not able to install America’s next-gen information infrastructure, even if they wanted to. Even if we assume they will. Even if we believe they already are. They aren’t. And they won’t. Because they can’t. And no amount of government subsidy will change that fact.Only your local ISP, properly empowered, holds the key to connecting you and your community to the future. Together, local ISPs wielding the right tools can solve America’s emergent broadband crisis.Local ISPs reading this: keep fighting the good fight. And thank you for keeping us connected.This post originally appeared on<a href="https://jase.fyi/thank-your-local-isp/"> jase.fyi</a>

Your local ISP is the only thing keeping you and your community adequately connected to the global economy. And they do it with one metaphorical hand tied behind the back, while blindfolded and barefoot.

Thank Your Local ISP

thank-your-local-isp

Local ISPs: we wrote this guide for you in the hopes it helps in some way as you navigate the new reality. Please keep fighting the good fight to get and keep your subscribers connected to strong internet during this unprecedented crisis.As America deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now evident to the majority of the country that local ISPs like you provide an essential service. It’s critical that you are able to perform through this stressful period. Despite providing an essential service, some of your customers may not be able to pay during this crisis. The U.S. federal government’s new program may be able to help get you through the next couple of months.On March 27, 2020, Congress passed and the President signed into law the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr748/BILLS-116hr748enr.pdf">‘‘Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act’’ or the ‘‘CARES Act”</a>. The legislation is a national effort to provide emergency financial relief to individuals and small businesses struggling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As you’re busy making sure your networks are performing for your subscribers, Ready wants to provide you with highlights relevant to local ISPs from the $2.2 Trillion legislation.<h3>Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans and Grants</h3>The CARES Act authorized SBA loans and grants to cover COVID-19-impacted small businesses (including sole proprietorships, self-employed individuals, and independent contractors). These loans and grants may be used for sole proprietor payroll costs, mortgage interest payments, rent, utilities, or other repayment obligations. Subject to certain conditions, loan amounts may be forgivable. The SBA has set up various programs to facilitate the loans and grants, which ISPs may be eligible for, such as the <a href="https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program-ppp">Paycheck Protection Program</a> and the <a href="https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19#section-header-3">Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program</a>.Paycheck Protection ProgramThe Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is authorized with up to $349 billion USD in SBA loans for small businesses harmed by COVID-19. The program will offer loans of up to $10 million at 1% interest to companies and nonprofits with fewer than 500 workers so they can cover two months of payroll and overhead expenses. If you retain your team and do not cut wages, the government will forgive most or all of your loan, and repay your lender. Check out <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/PPP%20Borrower%20Information%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf">SBA’s information sheet</a> for details.ISPs may apply, and use loan proceeds for payroll costs (including sole proprietor compensation), mortgage interest payments, rent, and utilities. Key dates to keep in mind:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>April 3, 2020: small businesses and sole proprietors can apply</li><li>April 10, 2020: independent contractors and self-employed individuals can apply</li><li>Applications will be open until the funding cap is met or June 30, 2020, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. We do expect the government to increase the funding cap if demand for PPP loans outstrips supply.</li></ul>You will need to complete this <a href="https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/Borrower%20Paycheck%20Protection%20Program%20Application_0.pdf">program sample form</a> once you choose one or more participating <a href="https://www.sba.gov/article/2020/mar/02/100-most-active-sba-7a-lenders">SBA-approved lenders.</a> You will also need to certify an economic need for the loan, along with supporting documentation. Ready recommends applying to more than one lender.Economic Injury Disaster LoanThe SBA <a href="https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19">Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program</a> provides emergency loan advances of up to $10,000 USD to small businesses harmed by COVID-19. To access the advance, you may apply <a href="https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/">here</a>. The advance would not need to be repaid. Additionally, SBA is offering COVID-disaster designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to certain small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of COVID-19.<h3>Telehealth in The CARES Act</h3>The CARES Act allows Medicare to significantly expand access to telehealth.<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>Patients in all settings can receive telehealth services and physicians can provide telehealth from their homes.</li><li>The Act greatly expands covered services provided to patients. The full list can be reviewed <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-03/telehealth-services-covered-by-Medicare-and-included-in-CPT-code-set.pdf">here</a>.</li><li>The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will allow physicians to prescribe controlled substances based on telehealth visits during the pandemic.</li><li>During the pandemic, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) which enforces HIPAA has relaxed enforcement of compliance on the types of technology physicians use to administer care.</li></ul>We believe the expansion of services during the pandemic is a systemic shift in telehealth and expect the new rules will stick. Conversely, the relaxed enforcement of HIPAA compliance in an age of heightened cybersecurity will roll back as soon as the crisis subsides. Local ISPs enabling telehealth services must ensure their networks are ready for advanced telehealth.In addition to expanding the scope of telehealth, The CARES Act provides for increased funding to telehealth and remote care technologies, which include the following sources:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>$27 billion for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund for COVID-19 activities, including telehealth access and infrastructure.</li><li>Over $1 billion provided to the Indian Health Services for COVID-19 measures including telehealth and other information technology upgrades.</li><li>$200 million for salaries and expenses to the Federal Communications Commission to support their efforts in responding to the COVID-19 emergency including providing telehealth services during the emergency period.</li></ul>We expect more clarity on how this money will be allocated in the days and weeks ahead, and will update Ready customers and subscribers. The need to improve connectivity to deliver telehealth on the scale the US government desires means ISP should benefit from an allocation of the federal dollars.We’re here to help you keep your subscribers connected. For additional info on how Ready helps local ISPs grow, please schedule a free consultation:Stay safe, and thank you again for connecting folks.

Local ISPs: we wrote this guide for you in the hopes it helps in some way as you navigate the new reality. Please keep fighting the good fight to get and keep your subscribers connected to strong internet during this unprecedented crisis.

The Local ISP's Guide to the CARES Act

the-local-isps-guide-to-the-cares-act

Local ISPs: you know how hard your job can be. Every day you work to keep folks connected, facing growing pressures from all sides: big cable stealing your subscribers. New upstarts. Rising costs. And what’ll happen when Starlink launches later this year?You might not realize that your success grows more important every day. Because we now live in the digital services era. That bright future we all talked about in the 2010s – remote work so we can live anywhere, digital healthcare letting us receive care at home, rural jobs rebuilding our communities – it’s already here*.One catch: it’s only available through high-performance access. Connected people and places are already racing ahead. Copper incumbents continue to fail millions of Americans, with shoddy 1990s-era infrastructure and spotty coverage. Only you – the local ISP – get the job done.So your success is vital. But your success requires you to grow. Because four horsemen are coming for your business. And only a growth mindset – a willingness to try proven growth techniques – can defeat them.Sadly, some of you reading this today won’t be in business in 2-3 years. The horsemen are strong.Others among you will refuse to lose. You’ll choose to fight back. To face the new challenges. You’ll ensure every member of your community is connected to the future.This article is for you: local ISPs with a growth mindset.<h2>The three growth levers</h2>Three levers govern growth in every subscription business:<ul style="list-style-type:disc;"><li>Lever A: Add Subscribers (Acquisition)</li><li>Lever B: Build Average Revenue per Subscriber (ARPS) (Monetization)</li><li>Lever C: Combat Churn (Retention)</li></ul><figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/six_growth_ways_e6f2383ca3/six_growth_ways_e6f2383ca3.png"></figure>Every ISP we’ve connected with at Ready already knows and understands the three levers. However, many tend to associate growing only with adding subscribers.All three supply growth fuel: revenue. According to a Y Combinator study of subscription businesses, reducing churn is 2.3x more productive than acquiring new subscribers. And monetizing existing subscribers – increasing the average revenue per subscriber – is 3.8x more productive. Local ISP revenue fuels adding more subscribers. Keeping your subscribers happy with premium digital service cross-sells is a winning formula. Just one thing. You do not earn revenue by connecting people to the internet! It sounds crazy, but you earn revenue the same way the fastest-growing subscription businesses earn revenue, regardless of industry. Provide what your subscribers want.<h2>Six ways to get growing</h2>The Ready ISP’s Flywheel of Fortune™️ contains six battle-tested growth techniques. Together, they address the full subscriber lifecycle, from acquisition to loyal satisfaction.You might use one or two today. You might’ve tried each at some point. Make an effort this year to try all six. Because they’re interconnected. For best results, creatively combine them.The techniques are distilled from a combination of best practices used by top ISPs, and the “growth hack” secrets behind Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing companies.The techniques aren’t rocket surgery. Nor are they magic. They just work by extending and pulling the three growth levers.In one sense, you constantly “acquire” current subscribers. Because of that, you can apply techniques in any order. You’ll know best where to start. Let’s start with Combat Churn since churn is about to become more problematic for all local ISPs.<h3>Lever C: Combat Churn</h3>Churn undermines growth. The silent killer of subscription businesses. Churn occurs when your subscriber leaves you. Churn rates can seem too small to matter. Local ISP churn rates in the 2 to 5% range are common. You might be among the fortunate minority of local ISPs who presently experience no churn, as “the only game in town.” Candidly, you should worry the most, because <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/f2b0ht/hoping_starlink_goes_open_access_at_least_in/">you may face trouble in the Starlink era.</a><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/combat_churn_f43bdf5fee/combat_churn_f43bdf5fee.jpeg"><img class="image_resized" style="width:582.844px;" src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/5fe3e33e50fb824f9ed1875b/5ff72ff9eae629cde9d7f7c9_ARR-vs-Churn.001.jpeg" alt="">In this example, four local ISPs start 2020 serving 10,000 Subscribers, at $1,000 Average Revenue Per Subscriber (ARPS) per year, and a healthy 20% margin. ISP A nets a slightly negative churn rate by keeping gross churn low, and outpacing loss through monetization. ISP B has a low churn rate. ISP C and ISP D die without radical intervention. Of the two survivors, ISP A earns $3 Million more than ISP B over the 5-year period. With more revenue, ISP A could further add subscribers.How can you reduce churn? Here are two battle-tested techniques:<h4>Technique #1 Reward Loyal Subscribers</h4>Take care of your existing subscribers. Thank them for choosing you. With rare exceptions, they don’t have to choose you. Even if you’re the only game in town today, Starlink and mesh upstarts will be knocking on your subscribers’ doors. Your subscribers might not continue choosing you unless you show them you care.Rewarding loyalty is easy. Done well, it’s even low cost and most of the expense cycles back into your profitability.You could do something generic, like a $25 Apple gift card, or a Thank You fruit basket (c’mon, it’s 2020, don’t do this). Always think of your Flywheel of Fortune™️. How can you find a way to re-capture 100% of the outlay? The best loyalty rewards generate demand for cross-sells and upsells. Add digital services, and incentivize your current subscribers to try them with free credit.Alternatively, consider discounts for extended services. This is another effective reward for loyalty. You get income assurance, they get better rates the longer they commit to staying.If you follow the next technique, you already have a great loyalty reward. When you add new services, give your subscribers who’ve been with you for more than two years a free month to try it out, at no commitment.<h4>Technique #2 Listen to Your Subscribers</h4>You might not offer what your subscribers want. For instance, cable uses tv to lure subscribers away from local ISPs, even if the internet service is inferior. It’s so effective that, even in the cord-cutter era, cable ISPs are growing faster than ever before. Today, more than half of connected homes in the U.S. take internet through the two largest cable companies.How? A powerful mind trick: <a href="https://uxdesign.cc/cognitive-biases-loss-aversion-925149360f46">loss aversion bias</a>. On average, we’re twice as motivated by a perceived loss than by equivalent gain. So, when cable makes an offer that includes internet and tv at a comparable price point, even if your subscriber doesn’t really WANT tv, even if they know they get better service from you, even if you sponsor the town’s little league team – the thought of “losing” all those channels becomes magnetic. Loss aversion is why the absence of other services like tv can subtly kill your business.Lucky for you, your competitors condition your customers. Big cable’s meteoric rise as ISP has trained Americans to believe tv and internet go hand in hand. 96% of American homes have at least one tv. That’s why, of the universe of digital services coming online, devsiter.kinsta.cloud chose to start with digital tv that you can offer your subscribers in a white-labeled service marketplace. By offering your subscribers digital services, you’ll help them connect to new premium digital services coming online over the next few years, including live digital entertainment, digital education, and digital health. Remember: you’re the conduit.<h3>Lever B: Build Average Revenue Per Subscriber</h3>When you achieve technique two by offering premium digital services, you’re already on your way to building higher ARPS. Just like reducing churn, increasing revenue per subscriber isn’t complicated. There are two ways to build ARPS:<h4>Technique #3 Upsell Subscribers More Internet</h4>Your subscriber currently subscribes to your $50 / month, 25mb/s plan. They upgrade to $70 / month, 50mb/s plan. Congrats on the upsell.Though obvious, it’s worth remembering as a technique. In the context of your Flywheel, you can leverage other techniques to drive demand for premium service. Video, for instance, is exceptionally bandwidth-intensive. More subscribers will need more internet. Netflix 4k requires 25mb/s average throughput. The price of 4K TVs has fallen dramatically over the last 3 years. More TVs will be 4K capable than not by the end of 2020. Once people glimpse 4K, they want it all the time. Wait til they get a look at 8K in a few years (150mb/s average per stream!).By adding digital TV, you’ll almost certainly encounter increased upsell demand.<h4>Technique #4 Cross-sell Subscribers Digital Services</h4>Cross-selling happens when ISPs offer services besides the internet. TV. Voice. Knowing their value as unique services for your subscribers is key, as you’ll better recognize the new wave of emerging digital services, and the opportunity they present for you as the conduit.It’s easy to think of adding services as a burden. Understandable: most local ISPs offering digital tv today do so through complicated, expensive rights agreements, and shoulder the full responsibility of customer service on the offerings. This is backward. The right way to think of it: you’re providing a sales channel to other digital service providers. With devsiter.kinsta.cloud, you offer services from other digital service providers and take your cut of their service through your marketplace.In the digital services era, ISPs who embrace this can prosper by growing their total addressable market, even if it’s hard to add more subscribers. As you add new digital services, you’re no longer competing to maintain your slice of the $79 billion pie that Americans pay for internet service each year. You’re connecting folks to the fast-growing $250 billion annual market for digital services.Where to start? Premium digital tv. Subscription TV is a $100 billion annual market. Years ago, offering tv as a local ISP involved complicated arrangements. Messy interconnections with outdated cable networks. Nasty, multi-year agreements with content providers. Now, thanks to software definition and advancements in service delivery, it’s easier than ever to offer freedom of choice to your subscribers.<h3>Lever A: Add Subscribers</h3>Acquiring new subscribers is the least efficient way to grow your local ISP business. But it’s vital that you do so. The following two techniques help fuel the growth of some of today’s most valuable technology companies. They can work for you, too.<h4>Technique #5 Give Something Away for Free</h4>Giveaways to attract new subscribers are as old as business. We love freebies! What can you give away? If you now offer a new tv service, this exciting new offering might be announcement-worthy. Send a note to neighbors, along with an offer to try the service. At Ready, we run this type of branded promotional growth campaign for you. The resulting campaigns can reach thousands of new subscribers, and generate double-digit conversion rates.<h4>Technique #6 Incentivize Current Subscribers to Share</h4>While your message might not go “viral” like the latest cat video, you do offer a valuable service, and many of your current subscribers will willingly recommend your service – if you give them the means and the reasons to do so.Running a referral incentive program is easy to understand, but success requires careful coordination. Regardless of how you choose to incentivize your subscribers to share, keep in mind: the best investments help you spin your flywheel faster.

Local ISPs: you know how hard your job can be. Every day you work to keep folks connected, facing growing pressures from all sides: big cable stealing your subscribers. New upstarts. Rising costs. And what’ll happen when Starlink launches later this year?

6 Ways For Local ISPs to Grow

6-ways-for-local-isps-to-grow

<h2>Three reasons to make Starlink neutral open access wholesale infrastructure for America’s Local ISPs</h2>For starters, you’ll make more money.This open letter originally appeared on <a href="http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2020/02/an-open-letter-to-gwynne-shotwell-elon-musk-and-starlink-leadership-three-reasons-to-make-starlink-a-wholesale-neutral-operator-for-americas-local-isps/">Broadband Breakfast</a>. Ready helps local ISPs grow.<h4>Greetings Gwynne, Elon, and Team Starlink –</h4>Thank you for working to connect folks. You’re launching the greatest leap forward in the internet’s 50-year history and will recast the incumbent structure of U.S. telecom over the next few years. Today’s widespread denial of this fact is a protective slathering of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Disruption can be unpleasant business for oligopolies.Please make the most of your shot. Don’t become the world’s largest ISP by going direct-to-consumer. For the sake of Starlink’s shareholders, for Americans, and for our nation’s thousands of local ISPs:<h4>Please offer Starlink as open access, wholesale backhaul for America’s local ISPs.</h4>The Swedes, approaching 95% fiber-to-the-premises, yet half the population density of the U.S., showed us the best model: open access last kilometer, offered wholesale via neutral operator (WNO). ISPs compete to serve subscribers over shared infrastructure, all the way into the homes.That model can and should become the default in the United States, available to local ISPs, where today the outmoded vertically-integrated operator model reigns supreme, shackling subscribers to outdated copper that pretends to be more capable than it really is.Our copper oligopoly does what any rational cartel does to protect profits. They write state and local rules preventing threats like open access from spreading. They hoover up billions of public dollars each year, funneling proceeds into a combination of self-congratulating dividends and marketing campaigns designed to <a href="https://twitter.com/jase/status/1224369580807606273?s=20">thoroughly suppress honest local ISPs</a>. But they do not waste perfectly good cartel cashflow upgrading our nation’s information infrastructure.‍<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/starlink_gif_175b660b74/starlink_gif_175b660b74.gif">Fig. contrasts 1. incumbent cable oligopoly territory divisions; 2. 2,700 local ISPs (map by <a href="https://www.zhuangyuanfan.com/">Zhuangyuan Fan</a>)They are too strong now for local ISPs to do anything about. They fight dirty against local ISPs, and in so doing keep tens of millions of us shackled to shoddy copper, inadvertently preventing our nation from joining the digital services era.They are at the time of this writing too big to fail.You – Gwynne, Elon, Starlink Leadership – could be the deciding factor between whether we in America remain stuck in the dark era, or if we, too, can enjoy the benefits of the coming Cambrian explosion of digital service innovations.How? Bring open access to America. Offer Starlink wholesale, open access, delivered to subscribers through competitive local ISPs.Even though it looks different from the direct-to-consumer model that works so well over at Tesla, you’re almost certainly already leaning in this direction. You have some of the world’s top talent on your team, no doubt you’ve already modeled all possible approaches. So you likely saw that wholesale neutral open access offers the path to global maximum ROI for you, the infrastructure owner. The accretive economics of multiple service providers competing to deliver price-discriminated digital services over your infrastructure, minus the outsourced cost structure of service delivery, maximizes the value of your asset.But, just in case: here are three reasons to please be an open access, wholesale neutral operator in the U.S.<h3>#1: It’s best for Starlink</h3>You’ll generate more profit. It might take slightly longer than the near-instant retail gratification of turning on the one ISP to rule them all, but wholesale neutral open access offers the path to achieving global maximum ROI.Just as important as maximizing profit is your culture and legacy. Like all Elon Musk companies, Starlink exemplifies definite optimism. You incite imaginations and summon the full brilliance of smart people working hard within a culture of innovation. If you join the U.S. telecom oligopoly, or – more likely, given the devastating potency of Starlink’s tech and team – become their dank meme overlord, you’ll lose your innovative edge.With Tesla, Boring Co, Hyperloop, and every prior endeavor, you’ve shown that it’s possible to do exceedingly well financially by doing good in the world. As the world’s largest ISP, you’re just the new asshat to blame when WHY THE F*C&amp;K WON’T THIS F&amp;%ING WEBSITE LOAD — F&amp;^K YOU STARLINK!!!!!At least in the context of U.S. broadband, direct-to-consumer is both financially sub-optimal, and at odds with the ethos of all other Elon Musk endeavors.<h3>#2: It’s best for American subscribers</h3>Open access, wholesale Starlink offered via local ISPs helps all Americans.Once you’re fully launched – 2022? – high-speed broadband will be everywhere in America. With game-changing latency and speed, Starlink holds great potential to accelerate America’s entry into the digital services era. In Sweden, where they are already advancing into digital distributed healthcare, in which many forms of care are administered in-home, now that the information infrastructure is in place.Digital services will save America hundreds of billions of dollars per year in healthcare and transportation costs, and profoundly enhance the quality of life for millions of Americans. Such digital services cannot properly flow through copper, nor many of today’s fixed wireless networks. Most such services can easily flow through your global infrastructure.As wholesale backhaul for local ISPs, local ISPs can upsell and cross-sell such digital services to subscribers. And you don’t put folks in the awkward place where they need to leave their local ISP – &nbsp;especially in remote America, often someone they hold long ties with, bonded by the ocean of uninhabited terrain separating their community from the rest of the world. Subscribers have someone local to talk to when things go wrong.<h3>#3: It’s best for America’s Local ISPs, and the communities they serve</h3>The potential reality just ahead is sobering for those who dare to look. The fate of the local ISP remains to be seen in the Starlink era of internet access. The amount of challenges local ISPs take on every day means most are unaware of the profound change you’re about to unleash. Of those aware, most I’ve spoken with at devsiter.kinsta.cloud seem in denial. A small but growing number are understandably worried that the end is near.There are nearly 3,000 ISPs in the U.S. When they realize the eminent threat, when your shadow passes overhead, when adrenaline sharpens their eyes and their minds and they pause the hard work of keeping their community connected long enough to react, which question would you rather they ask?“Is Starlink the end of my business?”Sure, you could wipe most of them off the face of the earth, after they’ve worked for years or decades to get folks connected.“How can I grow my business through Starlink to serve more subscribers?”Or, you could give them a potent tool with which to compete against the cable incumbents.By empowering local ISPs, you’ll help human-scale ISPs win their constant battle against the copper oligopoly. Local ISPs are the ones fighting mediocrity in telecom infrastructure. They’re the ones working to solve difficult problems, with limited resources. They’re the ones physically, socially, and economically tied to their community. If you’re wholesale open access, you help them win. In turn, they’re your built-in salesforce and customer service, capable of thoroughly ensuring access for all.You could empower thousands of small businesses, cooperatives, municipalities, and nonprofits who’ve worked for years to get folks ready for digital services. Here are just a few examples among the nation’s thousands of local ISPs:1. <a href="https://www.aroostooktechnologies.com/">Aroostook Technologies</a>, the fixed-wireless ISP in far northern Maine, is a locally-owned IT business operating since before the internet was born. They’ve connected thousands of Mainers, but routinely turn away prospective customers due to physics constraints of their slice of spectrum within Maine’s heavily forested, hilly terrain. What if they could activate thousands more of their neighbors with always-on, any-line-of-sight via Starlink backhaul?2. Innovators like <a href="https://althea.net/">Althea</a>, working to bring new P2P models of access to life on the ground for community-owned networks. What if the creative problem-solvers of the WISP and mesh network communities could serve over your infrastructure, consuming it as a resource, as software startups today utilize AWS? You might enable the Cambrian explosion of all-new distributed digital services.3. Our nation’s 800+ Rural Electric Cooperatives – the same unsung heroes who’ve worked to ensure continuous access to electricity for millions of rural Americans since the early 20th century. Now, many RECs offer broadband to their members, like United Electric (where my Ol’ Man worked for decades!), which now serves <a href="https://unitedfiber.com/">United Fiber</a> to 11,000 subscribers and growing. They’re the reason you can get superior internet in my rural hometown Maryville, Missouri, than anything I can get living in San Francisco. There are over 100 RECs today with active fiber services and many more in the works. RECs make exceptional ISPs, and offering internet service helps them serve their members. Some RECs who were looking to implement internet service are reluctant to proceed with their plans to deploy fiber, awaiting whether Starlink will potentially strand tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of their assets.<h4>Conclusion</h4>You’re about to massively upgrade the internet. Americans want to work with their local ISPs. Local ISPs can help you connect more folks and deliver more digital services. Please offer Starlink as wholesale backhaul to our nation’s thousands of local ISPs.You’ll unleash the full potential of the internet in America, once and for all. Since we now live in the connected economy, at the dawn of the digital services era, that means open access to Starlink unleashes the full potential of America.By way of background, devsiter.kinsta.cloud helps local ISPs grow. There is extremely high demand for Starlink backhaul. We’d love to work with you to make that a reality.With or without us. Please use your superpowers for good.No matter what, thank you again for connecting folks.Jase Wilson Founder, Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/@jase">@jase</a>

Thank you for working to connect folks. You’re launching the greatest leap forward in the internet’s 50-year history and will recast the incumbent structure of U.S. telecom over the next few years. 

An Open Letter to Starlink Leadership

an-open-letter-to-starlink-leadership

<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">A New Age</h2>Sometime around 66 million years ago, a San Francisco-sized asteroid affectionately named Chicxulub Impactor hurtled itself rather belligerently into the tropical waters just offshore of the Yucatan Peninsula. Not everyone was pleased.&nbsp;Every life form within 300 miles perished instantly upon impact, which sounds really awful, unless you asked a life form within 3,000 miles how they felt: their deaths were by fire, burial, and asphyxiation. But even they had it lucky, according to many life forms elsewhere on Earth, who would not receive the news of their impending demise until weeks later. They would perish slowly in cruel and inconvenient ways over the following months and years, from causes including starvation, cannibalization, and just plain boredom.&nbsp;Yet many life forms would go on about living life as if the whole Chicxulub affair never happened. Some would even go on to do quite well with their careers.&nbsp;No matter where you are in the world, if you dig deep enough, you’ll cross a distinct line that scientists more or less agree vouches for the Chicxulub Impactor and its aftermath. The most striking difference between the ages? On a planet previously ruled by dinosaurs, there are no more dinosaurs.&nbsp;<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">A(nother) New Age: The Age of Starlink</h2><figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/another_new_age_e72952b096/another_new_age_e72952b096.jpeg"></figure>Starlink’s coming. There will be losers and winners.Starlink brings to today’s telecom what Chicxulub Impactor brought to life forms around the time it decided to drop in on Earth. Some unfortunate ISPs are going to die very sudden deaths. Others will die over the coming months and years. Yet thousands of today’s ISPs will carry on, and some among them will thrive.&nbsp;This analogy is mediocre at best, or at least ironic since Starlink would not work for any life form anywhere on earth in the centuries that followed Chicxulub Impactor’s unannounced arrival. Too much dust for Dishy McFlatface. More on why that’s important to remember soon.&nbsp;First, there are many reasons why some ISPs should be full-on terrified about what’s coming, while others should be excited for the opportunities that will emerge once the signal-blocking proverbial dust settles. We are entering a new age – the Age of Starlink – and while not every ISP will be pleased, others who embrace a weird, often-forgotten trick will flourish.<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">Starlink already works.</h2>Starlink is live in beta for thousands of (mostly) ecstatic subscribers around the world. Their “Better Than Nothing” Beta appears by every category of measure to be an overwhelming success. Don’t take our word for it: <a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/starlink">see</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/nmrhyb/for_every_1_second_that_i_download_something">for</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Starlink">yourself</a>.Remember:&nbsp;<ol><li>There are <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/23/spacex-ships-100000-starlink-terminals-to-customers-eyes-future-launches-using-starship/amp/">only around 1,700</a> out of <a href="https://spacenews.com/spacex-submits-paperwork-for-30000-more-starlink-satellites/">an eventual 30,000</a> planned satellites launched</li><li>They still haven’t switched on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-space_optical_communication">space lasers</a> (pew pew!).&nbsp;</li></ol>If we’re already seeing results like this at 5% deployment while primary features aren’t yet active, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/22435030/starlink-satellite-internet-spacex-review">and we remember that Starlink is far from finished</a> deploying its game-changing tech, it’s easy to imagine that Starlink will soon be able to provide strong speed and latency most places, most* of the time. While it was easy and perhaps cathartic for established providers to dismiss their seemingly pie-eyed ambitions, the time has come for local ISPs to confront a hard truth: Starlink is a killer product.<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">Starlink will be a fierce rival</h2>Recently, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/06/spacexs-shotwell-no-plan-for-tiered-starlink-internet-pricing.html">clarified her company’s focus on rural America</a>, stating that Starlink “will be able to serve every rural household in the United States,” or “roughly 60 million people.”With its global footprint, a team of elite engineers, access to abundant capital, stunningly effective product, and global ambition, we predict that Starlink will grow its worldwide subscriber base to be as large as Comcast – America’s largest ISP – within three years.<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">Weak ISPs will die. Strong ISPs will live.&nbsp;</h2>At Ready, we are fortunate to get the chance to work daily with some of the fastest-growing ISPs in the U.S., as well as some of the investors pouring billions of dollars into broadband infrastructure. Our product helps local ISPs connect more people to better services. We follow Starlink’s progress closely and get to hear many perspectives about what effects Starlink might have on the ISP industry over the coming years.&nbsp;We are very excited about Starlink, and applaud their team for bringing a world-changing invention to life. We think Starlink will change the world for the better. It will give the U.S. copper cartel a run for its money, forcing them to compete, just like Tesla spurred rival automakers to embrace electric.&nbsp;We believe Starlink will become the world’s largest ISP, but that it will never become the world’s only ISP, and that it will paradoxically increase demand from strong local providers, for several reasons:<ol><li>Cost/convenience: The mass market might not love the $500 up-front, DIY install model as much as beta period early adopters. This remains to be seen.</li><li>Capacity: Starlink is close to magic in its leap-forward progression, yet it still obeys the laws of physics. There is already an exponential increase in demand for bandwidth. We believe Starlink will propel humankind from the zettabyte era of bandwidth to the yottabyte era, by bringing tens or hundreds of millions more ultra-high bandwidth users into the 21st century, contributing to the bandwidth need of creators and consumers. Fully deployed, Starlink isn’t even capable of serving the entire zettabyte era, let alone the order-of-magnitude growth in demand we believe it will induce.</li><li>Availability: There are many critical situations and contexts where Starlink simply won’t work, no matter how near-magic the technology proves to be. Such events occur when Dishy encounters obstacles.&nbsp;If upload speed is the Achilles Heel of cable networks, packet loss will be the Achilles heel for LEOs.</li></ol>Some of these events occur thousands of times per day at different times around the world. Others are tragic events that strike suddenly, at such times when we need reliable internet the most. That something could be ground objects like trees, buildings, or passing objects like airplanes, hang gliders, magicida swarms, or murmurations of starlings. Add to that list a large number of atmospheric events, ranging from stubborn clouds (midwestern summer supercells), fog (including Karl), light rain (fade), heavy rain (outage), the <a href="https://youtu.be/DPtzi8cYN14?t=25">annual Saharan dust migration</a>, snow including blizzards, hail, sleet, ice, seasonal crop dust, sand storms, haboobs, birds, atmospheric rivers, or any one of the 11,000 annual volcanic eruptions … you get the idea. <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-dev-public-assets/doge_starlink_fe1a29d59b/doge_starlink_fe1a29d59b.jpg">Doge Army may indeed overtake the world, but Starlink won't much wow inside haboobs&nbsp; &nbsp;For any LEO user under the smoke of wildfire, severe interruption of signal is all but assured, for potentially prolonged periods. As such fires happen more frequently now, with greater intensity, we believe it’s important for local ISPs to focus on resilient networks. Add to this that Dishy tends to overheat during the summer in hot climates and the message is clear: policymakers, broadband infrastructure investors, and residents of forested areas: local ISPs are needed now more than ever.<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">Some ISPs will thrive.</h2>Minor annoyances and tragic catastrophes aside, we also predict that Starlink will paradoxically increase demand for strong local ISPs. By way of Metcalfe’s law, through Starlink introducing potentially hundreds of millions more ultra-high bandwidth consumers to the internet, it could dramatically increase global demand for bandwidth, and thus for connectivity providers.Among the survivors, a few ISPs will thrive. Local fiber providers, REC ISPs, strong WISPs, and community networks will flourish by embracing a simple principle:<h3 style="margin-left:auto;">Take great care of your subscribers.</h3>Provided you have strong, resilient connectivity – fiber &amp; high-performance wireless – and you do everything you can to take great care of your subscribers, you can thrive in the Starlink Age.<blockquote>To survive and thrive as a local ISP in the Starlink Age, you must put your subscriber at the center of your business.&nbsp;</blockquote><h2 style="margin-left:auto;">That’s precisely why we made Ready BOSS.</h2>Our product helps growth-minded local ISPs deliver great subscriber experience. From finding and signing prospects in your territory, to seamless onboarding and billing, to cross-selling extras over the top of your network, and everything in between – your success ends and begins with subscriber experience.&nbsp;Best of all, Ready is built to plug into your existing systems, so you don’t have to change out the systems you love. You just get more from them, and so does your subscriber.<h2 style="margin-left:auto;">ISPs: Don’t get left behind.</h2>Get Ready to deliver great subscriber experience.If you’re a local ISP, we’d love to connect with you to help you get Ready for the Starlink Age. If you work with local ISPs we’d love to partner with you to help our mutual customers connect more people to strong broadband quickly. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ThankYourLocalISP&amp;src=typed_query">#ThankYourLocalISP</a>

Starlink brings to today’s telecom what Chicxulub Impactor brought to life forms around the time it decided to drop in on Earth. Some unfortunate ISPs are going to die very sudden deaths. Others will die over the coming months and years. Yet thousands of today’s ISPs will carry on, and some among them will thrive.

Local ISPs: Get Ready for Starlink!

local-isps-get-ready-for-starlink

<h1>Executive Summary</h1>When Mike Sanders walked into the Oklahoma Broadband Office in March 2023, he encountered a striking irony: the office tasked with deploying $1.3 billion in federal funds to expand broadband access across the state didn't have its own internet connection. This moment would come to symbolize both the scale of the challenge ahead and the office's remarkable journey from humble beginnings to implementing the largest broadband expansion in Oklahoma's history.<h2>Background and Context</h2><h3>Formation of the State Broadband Office</h3>The Oklahoma Broadband Office emerged from a legislative mandate to achieve 95% broadband coverage across the state. At the time Sanders assumed leadership, the FCC reported Oklahoma's coverage at 85%, with approximately 170,000 locations remaining unserved or underserved. The office faced a unique position in Oklahoma's governmental structure - operating as what Sanders describes as a "chameleon" agency. While required to follow state procurement rules and procedures, the office operates entirely on federal funding without state appropriations, creating both challenges and opportunities in its operations.<h3>Initial State of Operations</h3>The office began with just three remote employees and minimal infrastructure. There were no established procedures, policies, or even basic office necessities. Sanders recalls, "We were asked to build broadband with glue and toothpicks." This starting point emphasized the need for rapid but thoughtful organizational development.<h2>Leadership Philosophy and Approach</h2>Sanders brought a unique perspective to the role, shaped by his background in public service. Initially hesitant due to limited broadband expertise, he was drawn to the position by its potential impact on rural communities. "I'm a big picture guy," Sanders explains. "And I know what this is going to mean for Oklahomans, for generations to come."His leadership approach emphasizes:<ul><li>Pragmatic problem-solving</li><li>Transparent communication</li><li>Strong stakeholder relationships</li><li>Bipartisan cooperation, exemplified by his motto: "This isn't a red issue. This is not a blue issue. This is a red, white and blue issue."</li></ul><h2>Organizational Development and Capacity Building</h2>Under Sanders' leadership, the office underwent a rapid transformation from three remote employees to a fully-staffed agency of 21 professionals. This expansion included critical roles in:<ul><li>Grants management</li><li>Financial operations</li><li>GIS analysis</li><li>Legal counsel (requiring new legislation)</li><li>Communications and outreach</li><li>Technical support</li></ul>The growth wasn't just numerical - it represented a fundamental shift from what Sanders describes as the "wild wild west" to a structured organization with clear policies and procedures. This transformation was essential for managing the substantial federal funding entrusted to the office.<h2>Program Implementation and Early Successes</h2><h3>ARPA Funding Distribution</h3>One of the office's first major initiatives was the distribution of $374 million in ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. The program achieved significant geographic coverage, with projects in 55 of Oklahoma's 77 counties. Currently, 54 of the 130 announced projects are under construction, positioning the state well to meet the December 2026 deadline.<h3>Strategic Infrastructure Development</h3>Recognizing gaps in the state's broadband infrastructure, the office allocated $35 million for middle-mile projects - a strategic decision to enable future last-mile deployments and strengthen the backbone of Oklahoma's broadband network. This investment was designed to support both current projects and upcoming BEAD program implementations.<h3>Capital Projects Fund Success</h3>In September 2024, the office announced that it was allocated approximately $158 million in CPF funds, supporting 50 projects across 12 Internet Service Providers. These projects, combined with $109 million in matching funds from ISPs, will connect approximately 28,000 Oklahoma homes and businesses to high-speed internet.<h2>Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships</h2><h3>Tribal Relations</h3>A critical component of the office's success has been its comprehensive engagement with Oklahoma's 39 federally recognized tribes. Despite complex jurisdictional challenges and disputed boundaries, the office prioritized reaching out to all tribal nations, recognizing their essential role in achieving universal broadband access.<h3>State and Federal Coordination</h3>The office navigates a unique position between state and federal requirements. Sanders' experience as a former state legislator has proved valuable in educating stakeholders about the office's federal funding structure while maintaining productive relationships with state leadership.<h2>Looking Forward: The BEAD Program and Beyond</h2>The office is taking an innovative approach to BEAD implementation through its "Network Expansion Territories" (NETs) strategy, and will draw project areas that combine both appealing and high-cost regions, ensuring more equitable coverage.Sanders maintains a pragmatic approach to technology solutions, estimating that while the majority of BEAD connections will be fiber, alternative technologies like licensed fixed wireless and satellite will play crucial roles in reaching the most challenging locations. This flexibility aligns with the office's goal of achieving universal access while being mindful of cost-effectiveness.<h2>Results and Impact</h2><h3>Quantitative Achievements</h3>In 2024 alone, the Oklahoma Broadband Office, working in partnership with ISPs, directed $625 million toward broadband infrastructure - marking the largest single-year investment in the state's history. This progress is visible in communities across Oklahoma, with Sanders noting that residents are seeing "tangible items... the orange spools of fiber and the conduit" - physical evidence of progress despite temporary construction inconveniences.<h3>Progress Toward Coverage Goals</h3>While the FCC currently reports 85% coverage across Oklahoma, the office is on track to exceed its legislative mandate of 95% coverage, with Sanders confident they'll "go north of that" once CPF and BEAD implementations are complete. This progress represents meaningful change in communities that previously lacked any high-speed internet access.<h2>Lessons Learned and Best Practices</h2><h3>Building from the Ground Up</h3><ol><li>Balance Immediate Action with Long-term Planning: The office demonstrated how to simultaneously handle urgent operational needs while building robust frameworks for future programs. Rather than taking a sequential approach, Sanders' team developed comprehensive strategies for multiple funding streams (ARPA, CPF, BEAD) while building internal capacity and maintaining stakeholder relationships. This parallel processing approach enabled the office to meet immediate deadlines while preparing for future opportunities.</li><li>Focus on People, Policies, and Procedures: Sanders emphasizes these three elements as crucial to the office's success, noting that establishing proper frameworks and hiring the right team members created a foundation for effective program implementation.</li></ol><ul><li>Take a measured approach to challenges: Sanders advocates for "continuing to block and tackle until we're told not to," rather than becoming paralyzed by uncertainty about federal programs or regulations.</li><li>Maintain flexibility in technology solutions: While prioritizing fiber deployment, the office remains open to alternative technologies for very high-cost, last-resort locations.</li><li>Focus on sustainable progress: The office has structured its programs to maintain workforce continuity across different funding sources, from ARPA through BEAD implementation.</li></ul><h2>Conclusion</h2>The Oklahoma Broadband Office's journey from a three-person remote team to a fully-functional agency managing over a billion dollars in federal funds demonstrates the importance of leadership, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement in successful broadband deployment. Sanders' vision of the program's generational impact is perhaps best captured in his own words: "I get chills when I talk about what we're doing because I know that in ten, 20 years we're going to have our hand on history... The kids and grandkids of people I see at ribbon-cutting events in rural Oklahoma, they're going to be part of something so special and so unique."The office's success in rapidly building capacity, establishing effective procedures, and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships while managing complex federal programs offers valuable lessons for other state broadband offices. Their experience demonstrates that with proper leadership and organizational development, even offices starting from minimal resources can effectively manage large-scale broadband deployment programs.Most significantly, the office's work extends beyond mere infrastructure deployment - it represents a transformation in Oklahoma's digital landscape that promises to enhance healthcare, education, tourism, and economic development for generations to come.<img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfMs8ERR3pWovIcBK_LlNij4CZr8cDwlJw5Id3UQfGvhDkkIwLA7WsGBajIvlX0g_hexBDkEK80wHJto0anAtw4WDmGAvmKyjDP3Qsy_ktQQgvHtFeEqjV7r60cx7XOZEQlmNIbIA?key=wOSKkWuqkTxxerE1S0W7YGPA">

The Oklahoma Broadband Office, led by Mike Sanders, has rapidly transformed from a three-person team with no internet connection into a powerhouse managing over $1.3 billion in federal funds to expand broadband across the state.

Leadership and Innovation: The Oklahoma Broadband Office Path to Success

leadership-and-innovation-the-oklahoma-broadband-office-path-to-success

The numbers tell a stark story about America's digital divide. Despite being a global technology leader, millions of Americans still lack access to reliable high-speed internet – a basic utility that has become essential for education, healthcare, work, and daily life. This gap represents more than just a technological challenge; it's a fundamental barrier to economic opportunity and social equity in the 21st century.Enter the Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (BEAD) Program, a historic $42.5 billion federal investment designed to close this gap. While the program's scale is unprecedented, its success hinges on effective implementation at the state level. This is where Louisiana's story becomes particularly instructive. By partnering with Ready.net and leveraging their purpose-built software, Louisiana was able to transform their implementation approach.<img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcL_btRwVp7iLJReBaYJQrz79FJRV6wGby7zkC0XQT1UjGc8m0lfj0yGF0PwVTkDWbw7PXwREg9fsY-SDNWRR-2ulO9oUzP63ooiHnhd5UXT1QPwQokTa9cA9F6nTwqAYgrE4vg4w?key=QUaISKMzENGAFf6a3xUFiBe0">&nbsp;<h2>The Challenge: Making BEAD Work</h2>State broadband offices face a daunting task: they must evaluate hundreds of applications, manage complex funding allocations, and ensure fair competition while maintaining strict accountability for federal funds. Traditional manual processes can take months or even years, potentially delaying critical infrastructure deployment to communities in need.Louisiana's Office of Broadband Development &amp; Connectivity (ConnectLA) took a different approach. Established in spring 2021, the office learned valuable lessons from its initial GUMBO 1.0 grant program and recognized that BEAD's larger scale would require innovative solutions.&nbsp;<img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcn7kUsf1Ua3cTvrrKX3fA0zfu7QBpvkU9ZP3pQUQOAJ7upyD0O4gD5ueO4GeNVjYCmLM1vt8tmJKlj5PmhgIvtEqqoSt-DEJIfgTeUoGM4TNJMvYBjTQGDCXVput3UbLsEResehA?key=QUaISKMzENGAFf6a3xUFiBe0">&nbsp;<h2>Louisiana's Solution: Automation and Transparency</h2>Ready.net developed a comprehensive automated system for ConnectLA to manage BEAD implementation, providing the state with purpose-built software specifically designed for broadband programs. This wasn't just about using technology for technology's sake – Ready's platform created a scalable, transparent process that could handle the program's complexity while maintaining both speed and accuracy.The results were remarkable:<ul><li>The automated deconfliction process completed statewide review in just 5 days</li><li>The system processed over 700 applications across two rounds</li><li>The process prevented manual review of 250% more locations</li></ul>92% of locations were resolved through automated deconfliction enabled by Ready.net. Going forward, more states will be able to use Ready’s tools to handle automated deoconfliction, precluding the need for large, expensive teams.&nbsp;But perhaps most importantly, Louisiana's approach built trust through transparency. Every step of the process generated public data that could be independently verified. This transparency didn't just improve accountability – it actively prevented potential litigation by allowing stakeholders to validate results themselves.The Impact: Numbers That MatterLouisiana's implementation of BEAD has generated impressive results:<ul><li>140,000 locations will receive expanded broadband connectivity</li><li>95.4% of locations will receive fiber-based solutions</li><li>$623 million in total BEAD funding has been effectively allocated</li><li>The competitive process reduced funding requests by 19% between rounds</li></ul>Beyond these direct outcomes, the program is expected to generate:<ul><li>10,000 new jobs</li><li>$3 billion in revenue increases for Louisiana companies</li><li>60,000 rural households brought online</li><li>28,000 businesses brought online, including many small enterprises</li></ul><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXehkqVenbc4P_qdAdkZY3TOICrQRV8XwPBmZ-Bh9Otv-Ns6bM9zM28c_UseE5bc1GzsrBZko7GkGmgRyj4gp_oHSg-YqgQ-1TmRrCPQZ12uBUUuAivKmBSvhHXTpBHltlqRccDd8Q?key=QUaISKMzENGAFf6a3xUFiBe0">&nbsp;<h2>Key Elements of Success</h2>Louisiana's success wasn't accidental. Several critical elements combined to make their approach effective:<h3>1. Sleek Program Design</h3>Utilizing Ready.net's innovative platform, instead of creating cumbersome application processes, ConnectLA opted for minimalist pre-qualification requirements and flexible project areas. They published clear funding benchmarks and let their automated systems handle the complex work of deconfliction and evaluation.<h3>2. Diverse Participation</h3>The program attracted a healthy mix of providers:<ul><li>78% small wireline providers</li><li>17% large wireline carriers</li><li>5% wireless/LEO providers</li></ul>This diversity ensured competitive bidding while maintaining high standards for service delivery.<h3>3. Financial Innovation</h3>The program's design included front-loaded disbursements and streamlined administrative processes, reducing barriers to participation while maintaining accountability.&nbsp;<h2>Lessons for Other States</h2>Louisiana's experience offers several key lessons for other states implementing BEAD:<ol><li>Automation is Essential Manual processes simply can't scale to handle BEAD's complexity efficiently. Ready.net's software platform proved essential for Louisiana's success, enabling the state to process applications and manage deployments at a scale that would have been impossible with traditional methods. Automated systems not only speed up implementation but also reduce errors and improve consistency. &nbsp;</li><li>Transparency Promotes Efficiency By making data public and processes verifiable, states can build trust and prevent costly delays from challenges or litigation. &nbsp;</li><li>Competition Works Louisiana's approach generated significant cost savings through competitive bidding while maintaining high standards for service delivery. &nbsp;</li><li>Design Matters Thoughtful program design that minimizes bureaucracy while maximizing accountability can attract more participants and better outcomes.</li></ol>&nbsp;<h2>Looking Forward</h2>Louisiana's implementation of BEAD demonstrates that with the right approach, states can efficiently manage complex broadband deployment programs while maintaining high standards and accountability. Their success provides a clear roadmap for other states facing similar challenges.The digital divide remains a significant national challenge, but Louisiana's experience shows that BEAD, when properly implemented with automated systems and transparent processes, can effectively address this challenge. Through their partnership with Ready.net, Louisiana demonstrated how purpose-built software can transform broadband deployment programs. As other states begin their own BEAD implementations, Louisiana's model offers valuable lessons for turning federal funding into actual broadband deployment efficiently and effectively.<img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfSgRHasNn0vNe3qPeDl6x7meMd5TRRUoU7mx0CQvYCONw8QCiZU8kX1BNMFQdVLYqK2ZqbeQ9rRhi__fEGX0lHLC-0vsEskTB9oWuGeeiv4iPIgUTXfpOzlhm0rs4RKkrevf5Ebw?key=QUaISKMzENGAFf6a3xUFiBe0">

The $42.5 billion BEAD Program aims to close America’s digital divide, ensuring equitable access to high-speed internet. Louisiana demonstrates effective implementation through innovative approaches and strategic partnerships.

Bridging the Pelican State’s Digital Divide: How Ready Enabled a Transparent, Automated Approach to Louisiana’s BEAD Implementation 

bridging-the-pelican-states-digital-divide-how-ready-enabled-a-transparent-automated-approach-to-louisianas-bead-implementation-test-6

Louisiana has become the first U.S. state or territory in the nation to have both volumes of its initial BEAD approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.&nbsp;Ready congratulates Veneeth Iyengar, Thomas Tyler and the Connect Louisiana team for such a tremendous step towards their goal of eliminating the Bayou State’s digital divide by 2029.&nbsp;Connect Louisiana’s proposal showcases the state’s work in building a telecommunications infrastructure that can sustain natural disasters in the state which have become increasingly common, ensuring that the Gumbo 2.0 grant process is competitive and open to all providers and builds a low-cost plan that balances the affordability needs of families and the long-term financial success of internet service providers.“Louisianans should be thrilled that we have set the pace for the country in terms of execution and speed,” Veneeth Iyengar, executive director of Connect Louisiana,&nbsp;<a href="https://connect.la.gov/media/a40jyhpl/louisiana-ip-vol-2-final.pdf">said</a>. “Our projects will have a leg up in securing access to labor, materials and investment capital and Louisianans will ultimately receive the benefits of broadband expansion far sooner than residents of any state.”&nbsp;Volume I of the Initial Proposal details Connect Louisiana’s plan for a challenge process to determine BEAD-eligible locations. Volume II covers the specific actions that Louisiana will undertake to ensure that every location has access to high-speed, affordable and reliable Internet service.&nbsp;

Louisiana has again made BEAD history by becoming the first state to receive NTIA approval on both Volume I and II of its initial proposal.

Congrats Louisiana!: Making BEAD History Again Vol II Approved

louisiana-is-ready-for-bead

Delaware and Montana has become the latest states to have Volume 1 of its BEAD initial proposal approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.&nbsp;Ready congratulates Roddy Flynn and the Delaware, and Misty Ann GIles of Montana, and their teams, for this important step toward getting broadband access toward all of the states’ citizens.With this step, Delaware officials said they plan to kick off its challenge “within the next few weeks.” The states are free to begin the challenge within one week of approval by the NTIAVolume 1 of the Initial Proposal details each states’ plans for a challenge process to determine BEAD-eligible locations.Delaware received just over the statutory minimum of $100 million, which the state has said will be enough to connect the un- and underserved locations remaining after its ARPA dollars are spent. Montana was allocated $628 million.&nbsp;

The two states have become the latest (one of only five so far) to receive NTIA approval of their Volume 1 BEAD plans.

Congratulations to Delaware and Montana for NTIA Approval

congratulations-to-delaware-and-montana-for-ntia-approval

Few things are as controversial as family recipes that rely on the same ingredients but have different preparation processes.&nbsp;Let’s be honest. Can anyone really make a rub like your proverbial Uncle Pete’s?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;States, much like families, all have a desired outcome for their stakeholder engagement efforts but take different approaches. What’s important, however, is that states are in agreement of the essential ingredients to engage stakeholders for BEAD and beyond.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/recipe_1_06d67c61e1/recipe_1_06d67c61e1.png"></figure><h2>Build as much of a robust network of loosely organized (yet effective!) task forces for local communities across your states as possible&nbsp;</h2>State broadband offices should establish a directory of stakeholders for communities across their entire state. Listed in this directory should be elected officials, nonprofit leaders, grassroots volunteers and key community leaders, regional planning organizations and economic development officials.&nbsp;“Many states will see that there’s going to be key individuals in each community that wear multiple hats mostly on a volunteer basis,”&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/events/ask-me-anything-with-earnie-holtrey-deputy-director-of-the-indiana-broadband-office">Earnie Holtrey</a>, Indiana’s former state broadband director, said. “That’s where we found them in Indiana whether it was economic development officers at the county level or really passionate individuals who had taken up the cause for years.”&nbsp;Don’t forget to look: Looking to these local community leaders to figure out best practices for promoting events and call-to-actions. Some communities might be heavily engaged on Facebook or others might be really engaged in a local elected official’s newsletter.&nbsp;“It’s important to leverage these existing resources and expertise within these local communities to enhance broadband infrastructure and services,” Holtrey said.&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/recipe_2_0e45e6ba3a/recipe_2_0e45e6ba3a.png"></figure><h2>Meet the stakeholders where they are and&nbsp;actually listen to them.&nbsp;</h2>Don’t: Make rural and underserved communities, anchor institutions, such as libraries, schools and healthcare centers and Tribal communities an afterthought.&nbsp;State broadband offices should be present in communities across their state to learn about the on-the-ground challenges faced by stakeholders and sharing how they plan to solve them.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnN755SguY">Venneth Iyengar,</a> executive director of Connect Louisiana, and Thomas Tyler, deputy director of Connect Louisiana, have built a network that has allowed them to travel to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B_TROVlGvY">all 64 of Louisiana’s parishes and over 100 towns and villages</a>.&nbsp;Next door in Mississippi,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxyc8zGfRSI">Sally Doty</a>, director of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM), has consistently been on the road traveling across the 48,430 square miles of the Magnolia State&nbsp;<a href="https://mississippitoday.org/2022/10/26/broadband-inequities-in-delta/">since the agency’s first event in October 2022</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;“You have to reach people in different ways,” Doty said. “You’ve got to use every different method you can to try and reach out to people.”&nbsp;One of the best methods to ensure that you’re listening to stakeholders is establishing clear feedback mechanisms that will continuously gather input from local communities. Doing so ensures that the strategic plan remains responsive to evolving needs.It’s vital for state broadband offices to conduct thorough needs assessments with a reliable partner. These assessments involve numerous tools, including&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-audit">broadband audits</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/products/performance-test-and-survey">performance test and surveys</a>, to understand the current state of broadband access, gaps and challenges being faced by various local communities.&nbsp;“Learn as much as you can about the current status, short term solutions and key players,” Holtrey said. “Doing so allows for states to set application guidelines so providers who best serve the needs of each specific community can be awarded the funding,” Holtrey added.&nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/recipe_3_318b7df8e3/recipe_3_318b7df8e3.png"><h2>Go easy on your expectations for your audience’s knowledge level on broadband, BEAD, and anything else that we think about non-stop every day.&nbsp;</h2>Access and affordability of broadband service is a crucial issue with enormous impact on the quality of life for millions of Americans.&nbsp;Now that we’ve clarified this, it’s important to remember that community members and constituents are thinking about broadband in conjunction with so many other items, such as working their day jobs, spending time with their families and doing anything besides battling special interests and monopolies.&nbsp;This means to be gracious to your stakeholders if they ask you to repeat yourself, lack a clear understanding of the timeline and are completely unfamiliar with jargon, acronyms, the inner workings of&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/everything-broadband-pros-need-to-know-about-performance-bonds">performance bonds</a>, or anything else that state broadband offices spend a bulk of their time thinking about.&nbsp;Help these communities increase their knowledge by conducting policy workshops and forums to discuss regulatory and policy changes that can facilitate broadband deployment.&nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/recipe_4_6736b7dec0/recipe_4_6736b7dec0.png"><h2>Provide an extra serving of clear expectations and transparency&nbsp;</h2>State broadband offices should provide clear expectations for stakeholders’ efforts in closing the digital divide. Each request should be specific,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/data-driven-state-broadband-offices">measurable,</a> manageable and lean heavily upon their strengths within their community or organizations.&nbsp;One of the best ways to establish clear expectations for state broadband offices is through documentation and transparency.&nbsp;“Be sure to document the engagement process and ensure transparency in decision-making,” Holtrey said. “Share relevant information with the public and stakeholders to build trust and understanding.”&nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/recipe_5_af59e5930f/recipe_5_af59e5930f.png"><h2>Don’t withhold a single tool to help your state’s broadband efforts&nbsp;</h2>State broadband offices should be sure to not leave a single tool unused in your efforts to close their state’s digital divide.&nbsp;Be sure to explore public-private partnerships as an opportunity to leverage private sector resources and expertise. Don’t forget to engage with local internet service providers (ISPs), telecommunications providers and&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/united-fibers-path-to-bringing-broadband-to-northwest-missouri-s-rural-communities">rural electric co-ops</a> to enhance broadband coverage.&nbsp;State broadband offices have ample resources available, like the&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/state-broadband-office-software">Ready platform</a> which includes mapping tools and data analysis, which can be used to prioritize investment and deployment strategies.&nbsp;“It’s important to remember that the NTIA is serious about stakeholder engagement and that it will be important throughout the entire BEAD process,” Holtrey said. “It’s bigger than just the challenge process and will be necessary with future projects.”&nbsp;

Five ingredients  to engage stakeholders for BEAD and beyond 

 A Fool-Proof Recipe for Stakeholder Engagement

a-fool-proof-recipe-for-stakeholder-engagement

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/In_blog_graphic_23be330db0/In_blog_graphic_23be330db0.png"></figure>Montana entered the next phase of its BEAD journey earlier this year in&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/blog/montana-begins-broadband-challenge-process">launching its BEAD challenge process</a> powered by Ready.The Treasure State was allocated $628 million in BEAD funding last year. Montana currently has more than 50,000 unserved locations and more than 22,000 underserved locations. Connect Montana, a subagency of the Montana Department of Administration, has been tasked with administering BEAD funding and the state’s broadband infrastructure deployment.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/BEAD_CPC_png_2642c17715/BEAD_CPC_png_2642c17715.png"></figure>Montana’s challenge process features an end-to-end experience for the state broadband office, its consultants, and its challengers that includes a dedicated portal for all kinds of challenges and rebuttals. The process is simplified with automatic messaging, a public map built to NTIA standards, and more.&nbsp;Montana joins Mississippi,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/broadband-leaders/bayou-broadband">Louisiana</a>, Virginia, Kansas, New York, Nevada, and many other leading states to utilize Ready’s tools to conduct their challenge process.

The Treasure State’s challenge process, powered by Ready, is on the horizon.

Congrats Montana on Being Ready for BEAD

congrats-montana-on-being-ready-for-bead

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Screenshot_2024_02_15_at_8_43_21_PM_5a4bfe2ab9/Screenshot_2024_02_15_at_8_43_21_PM_5a4bfe2ab9.png"></figure>The road to BEAD compliance is one fraught with challenges, but thanks to the diligent work of the&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/state-broadband-offices/nevada">Nevada State Broadband Office</a>, Silver Staters are one step closer to being ready for BEAD;&nbsp;<a href="https://beadregister.nv.gov/">When Nevada launches their challenge process</a>, it will be powered by Ready’s Challenge Process Coordinator.&nbsp;Nevada is a state known for its subterranean treasures – whether that's the state’s namesake, silver – or gold and copper – or even black opals! Hopefully soon another precious resource will be found in vast quantities beneath the sands of Nevada: fiber!&nbsp;And it will take quite a bit of fiber to connect the entire state! Nevada is the seventh largest state by area at 109,781 square miles – just below Arizona and right above Colorado. Even though the state’s name is derived from the Spanish word for “snow clad” (courtesy of the Sierra Nevada mountains on its western border), it is actually the most arid state in the country with only 10.3 inches of rain per year.&nbsp;And across that sand (and snow), Nevada has got it all: vast stretches of rural land, tribal communities, and cities – not least of which is the Marriage Capital of the World, Las Vegas.&nbsp;To ensure that urban, rural, and tribal communities all get the broadband service they need and deserve, Nevada will be using Ready’s challenge process to facilitate improved communication between its state broadband office, its consultants, grant applicants, and eligible entities that will be filing challenges. The challenge process coordinator uses a single portal that serves as a repository for all challenges and rebuttals filed in the state.The software uses tools like automatic messaging to keep all parties up to date on the status of their challenge/rebuttal, along with a public map that reflects changes to application areas, and other tools that are purpose-built to allow small teams to take on huge tasks.&nbsp;And Nevada’s broadband office certainly faces a huge task on the road ahead; the NTIA allocated $416.7 million to Nevada through BEAD, tasking the office with connecting over 53,000 unserved locations and approximately 13,300 underserved locations.&nbsp;Despite the doubtless challenges they will face, Silver Staters’ broadband officials remain unwavering and unflinching in their efforts to connect every serviceable location to high speed, affordable, broadband.Nevada has joined a cadre of trailblazing states that use Ready’s software solutions to power their state broadband offices, and conduct their challenge processes. These states include Mississippi,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/broadband-leaders/bayou-broadband">Louisiana</a>, Virginia, Kansas, New York, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Ohio, New Mexico, Delaware, North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/congrats-montana-on-being-ready-for-bead">Montana</a>, and more. &nbsp;

The Silver State’s challenge process, powered by Ready, is right around the corner.

Congrats Nevada on Being Ready for BEAD

congrats-nevada-on-being-ready-for-bead

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/In_blog_graphic_2_796d4f7b85/In_blog_graphic_2_796d4f7b85.png"></figure>New York’s curtains are rising on the next phase of its BEAD journey this month as its challenge process, powered by Ready, is set to&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.ny.gov/new-york-state-broadband-challenge-process">commence later this month</a>.&nbsp;Connect All, New York State’s broadband office, has been tasked with administering BEAD funding and the state’s broadband infrastructure deployment.&nbsp;When most people think of New York, almost invariably, they think of the hard pavement of New York City. And perhaps that’s fair. With more than 8.3 million residents, it’s the largest city in the United States – more than double the size of the second largest city, Los Angeles.&nbsp;Even though the Big Apple may get the most sap, however, there is much more to the state than skyscrapers and concrete. In fact, the state is home to 33,500 farms across 7 million acres; approximately 20 percent of New York is farmland! New York is also home to 8 federally recognized indigenous tribes.&nbsp;The Empire State was allocated $664 million in BEAD funding as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with the goal of connecting every apartment block, every skyscraper, every farm, and every tribe in the state. Currently, the state has more than 80,000 unserved locations and 10,000 underserved locations. This is no small task.New York is slated to make history with its challenge process as it becomes the first state in the nation to implement a resident portal that allows everyday New Yorkers to submit provider level service challenge information. This allows for residents, who are typically unable to “challenge” locations, to do so and have greater participation in the BEAD process.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Application_Review_png_d24d73bb7d/Application_Review_png_d24d73bb7d.png"></figure>This is so critical because it's everyday New Yorkers who know their communities the best! They know that even though their building is supposed to have high speed broadband, the internet hasn’t worked for half of the building in months. They know that even though they can go down the street to the library to access the wi-fi, between the 6 and 8pm the service slows to a crawl, and no one can get anything done. These are perspectives and voices that would likely be overlooked without a resident portal.<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/BEAD_CPC_png_1851998a2c/BEAD_CPC_png_1851998a2c.png"></figure>The Empire State’s challenge process is designed to help the state’s broadband office do more with less. So what does that mean? Well, it allows the office’s consultants, applicants, and challengers to administer, file, and respond to challenges via a shared portal. The Challenge Process Coordinator was designed to streamline every aspect of this process, and makes use of automatic messaging, a public map built to NTIA standards, and more tools all designed to scale the abilities of the office without the need to grow the team.&nbsp;New York joins Mississippi,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/broadband-leaders/bayou-broadband">Louisiana</a>, Virginia, Kansas,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/congrats-nevada-on-being-ready-for-bead">Nevada</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/blog/congrats-montana-on-being-ready-for-bead">Montana</a>, and other leading states in utilizing Ready’s software tools to conduct their challenge process.&nbsp;

The Empire State makes waves with historic challenge process.

New York’s challenge process brings a new scene for BEAD

congrats-new-york-on-being-ready-for-bead

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Indiana_In_blog_graphic_96bd7accbf/Indiana_In_blog_graphic_96bd7accbf.png"></figure>Hoosiers can rest easy knowing that their state broadband office is pulling out all the stops to ensure that every family and community in Indiana gets served with affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/about-indiana-history-and-trivia/emblems-and-symbols/what-is-a-hoosier/">Though no one is 100 percent certain where the term “Hoosier” originated</a>, one thing’s for sure – it certainly roles off the tongue much better than “Indianians” (which is technically also correct, but who would opt to use that over Hoosier?). Though less than 14 percent of the population of the Hoosier state lives in rural areas, in excess of 80 percent of the state’s area is devoted to farmland and forests. In fact,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/faqs/#:~:text=related%20to%20agriculture%3F-,Which%20are%20the%20top%2010%20agriculture%2Dproducing%20States%3F,%2C%20North%20Carolina%2C%20and%20Wisconsin.">according to the USDA</a>, Indiana ranks 8th in order of total agricultural output.<div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Optimizer_9e778408df/Optimizer_9e778408df.svg?updated_at=2024-02-26T21:54:40.711Z" alt="Grant Optimizer">
</div>&nbsp;Ensuring that Hoosiers have access to the broadband they need goes beyond telehealth, distance learning, and the other familiar components of digital equity that many people in 2024 have become familiar with. For a state like Indiana, technologies powered by broadband that enable innovations like precision agriculture are equally important, as they increase a farmer’s efficiency, and enable them to do more with less.`And that’s exactly what Ready aims to help the Indiana State Broadband office do with its suite of software.&nbsp;Indiana will utilize the Ready Research Platform, Grantor Portal, Grant Optimizer, and the Performance Test and Survey to assist its broadband office in bringing the internet to more families across the state, without the need to hire an army of experts.&nbsp;But what will all of those tools do?&nbsp;These tool’s represent a soup to nuts solution for Indiana; not only will the tools assist internet service providers in crafting a compelling and comprehensive grant application, it will also assist the state broadband office in evaluating and monitoring said applications. Additionally, the Ready Research Platform and Performance Test and Survey will allow the broadband office to play with a full deck – enabling them to make accurate, data-driven decisions that reflect the reality Hoosiers face on the ground.

Indiana plows a path to better broadband powered by Ready’s software.

Indiana Is Speeding to Bring Broadband to Every Hoosier

indiana-is-ready-for-bead

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/In_blog_graphic_4_5b30a954c2/In_blog_graphic_4_5b30a954c2.png"></figure>Broadband Expansion and Access of Mississippi (BEAM), Mississippi’s state broadband office, has charted a course to 100 percent broadband coverage for the residents of The Magnolia State, powered by Ready’s suite of software solutions.&nbsp;Aside from being the state that’s most fun to spell out loud, Mississippi was ground zero for a new American sound as the birthplace of blues artists like&nbsp; B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Big Joe Williams.&nbsp;&nbsp;You also can’t forget the food scene in Mississippi either. Many out-of-staters have seen their jaws hit the floor after a bite of gas station fried chicken. Nothing served at the same address as diesel has the right to taste so good.&nbsp;But gas stations serve a purpose that may be unfamiliar to some. Oftentimes, a gas station is more than a place to fill up your truck; it’s the general store; it’s the local watering hole; and in Mississippi, they often serves as anchor institutions where local residents can access reliable broadband service. Tracking institutions like these is just one of the ways that Ready helps to power the State Broadband Office of Mississippi.&nbsp;Mississippi is using Ready’s Grantor Portal, Grant Optimizer, Performance Test &amp; Survey, and Challenge Process Coordinator to assist BEAM in connecting the state’s communities. Ready has also assisted with stakeholder outreach and engagement on the ground in Mississippi.The BEAM Team – known to their fans as the Dream Team – set an extremely high bar for state broadband offices around the country.&nbsp;<a href="https://ready.net/broadband-leaders/making-broadband-a-reality-for-mississippians">Sally Burchfield Doty</a>, a former Mississippi State Senator and Executive Director of the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff, leads a small but intensely driven team that has accomplished so much in such a narrow window of time.&nbsp;BEAM has managed hundreds of funding applications and deconflictions to their data, and enabled a request for comments window and a post-award lifecycle that extends for years in the future – all through a single platform.&nbsp;Sally and her team also make a point of spending time in the trenches, going to communities all around the state, engaging with the families and communities across The Magnolia State as far south as the Gulf Coast to the Delta region in the state’s northwest corner and the Black Belt in the northeast region.&nbsp;The Magnolia State has a long, winding road ahead to reach 100 percent broadband coverage, but they have built a foundation of success that will enable them to reach their dreams of broadband for all Mississippians.

Broadband for all is more than a slogan in The Magnolia State.

The Magnolia State continues to plant the seeds for BEAD success and beyond 

mississippi-has-planted-the-seeds-for-success

<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/In_blog_graphic_6_3e0d70f9b0/In_blog_graphic_6_3e0d70f9b0.png"></figure>“Oh, give me a home where the [broadband service is at least 100/20], where the [kids can study online and] play.”Well, thanks to the diligent work being done by the Kansas Office of Broadband Deployment (KOBD), you will be able to find that home in the Free State.Kansas gets its nickname from when it became the 34th state to join the Union in 1861, as a free state – that is, one where slavery was illegal.Kansas quickly came to occupy a niche in the American psyche; homesteads on vast tracts of open land beneath a sky full of stars promised freedom and a fresh start for many.&nbsp;But despite the enormous opportunities of moving out west, Kansans weren’t promised an easy life, and their state motto reflects this: Ad astra per aspera – latin for “to the stars through difficulties.”And indeed, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascommerce.gov/about/meet-the-team/broadband/">Jade Piros de Carvalho and her team at KOBD</a> has embodied this adage to the letter – stalwart in the face of all of the challenges that have beared down on them. Ready is proud to power KOBD, helping them scale and grow in the ways that they need to in order to ensure that every Jayhawker has access to the broadband they need and deserve.KOBD is using Ready’s Grant Optimizer tool to enable the development of a statewide high-level design for a fiber network that reaches serviceable locations in even the most remote corners of the Free State.&nbsp;The KOBD team is also using Ready’s Challenge Process Coordinator to facilitate the state’s challenge process. Kansas is racing to be one of the first states to actually deploy BEAD funding as every day without deploying broadband infrastructure is another that families go without broadband.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Screenshot_2024_02_29_at_12_08_1_15e2683f90/Screenshot_2024_02_29_at_12_08_1_15e2683f90.png"></figure>Kansas is also making use of the Ready Research Platform as well as the Performance Test &amp; Survey in order to assist with broadband availability research and network design.A few things come to mind when most people think of the state of Kansas: agriculture, buffalo, sunflowers, and maybe the Wizard of Oz. But the KOBD team is working hard to get “high-speed broadband” added to Kansas’ game of word association.

The Stars are Aligning for Kansas as it seeks to improve broadband connectivity.

The Free State is Working to Make Broadband Affordable and Accessible to All

kansas-is-ready-for-bead

<div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Proof_of_passing_1_a5d4e5c7a6/Proof_of_passing_1_a5d4e5c7a6.svg?updated_at=2024-02-16T22:37:53.076Z" alt="ARC for State Broadband Offices">
</div>&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="https://broadband.money/broadband-grant-terms/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-program">Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD)</a> Program is our country’s largest-ever investment in broadband infrastructure and arguably its last. $42.5 billion hangs in the balance, and tens of millions of families are depending on it for improved broadband connectivity.Ensuring broadband access, however, is more than award announcements and disbursing checks.&nbsp;Questions continue to surface while everyone awaits checks in the mail. BEAD’s careful deployment demands years of reporting and compliance auditing in addition to monitoring in order to ensure that funding is utilized efficiently.&nbsp;Providers are familiar with strict reporting and compliance requirements, but BEAD’s requirements are unlike any other. And, more importantly, they don’t end with the BEAD NOFO and its parent legislation, IIJA.&nbsp;NTIA is expected to release additional guidance later in 2024.It’s vital to our nation’s largest-ever broadband infrastructure investment that we empower state broadband offices and providers to meet program obligations.&nbsp;It’s why we’re pleased to announce Ready ARC&nbsp;Problems:&nbsp;Protecting America’s investment is a noble goal, but BEAD’s stringent post-award requirements create a burden for local, non-traditional providers unable to hire an entire team of compliance specialists. Self-reporting also poses its own challenges, and comes with waste, fraud and abuse risks.BEAD presents both an opportunity and challenge for states. States face numerous trackable project parameters that awardees must use to certify accuracy of progress reports. NTIA has adopted an address-level definition for passings, creating a geospatial challenge for state broadband offices.States are also encouraged to surpass minimum reporting and compliance requirements, such as increasing reporting frequency. Recipients are expected to comply with requirements from both the state and NTIA.&nbsp;This problem is exacerbated for grant recipients; meeting compliance and reporting requirements is labor intensive. Very few people want to discuss BEAD’s myriad procurement, labor and environmental regulations.The ARC addresses both problems by minimizing the burden of manual reporting and compliance by tethering directly to the awardee operator’s system of record. ARC uses software where it can be most helpful: the boring, banal back-office paperwork.&nbsp;This leads to the best outcome: all stakeholders united throughout the deployment journey.<h2>ARC for State Broadband Offices</h2>ARC ensures that provider’s live up to their obligations . It also helps grantors ensure awarded deployments remain on track throughout the post-award lifecycle.&nbsp;With ARC, your focus shifts to the most important job to be done: connecting families to better broadband.&nbsp;Empower your sub-grantees to deliver above and beyond.&nbsp;<ul><li>Combat waste, fraud, and abuse</li><li>Meet NTIA’s stringent obligations for reporting and monitoring</li><li>Compare progress to promises made: identify deviations from plans, highlight risks, and proactively communicate updates</li></ul>Through Proof of Passings&nbsp;and the Challenge Process Coordinator’s quarterly map update, Ready states can avoid the market failures of previous broadband grant funding cycles. No more promises made, promises broken.&nbsp;Track BEAD deployments in real timeMonitor sub-grantee progress while keeping up to date with deployment progress. Spreadsheets attached to emails won’t tell you whether service will degrade as a result of oversubscribed, under-invested equipment, but the network knows.<div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Report_cards_aff436cff9/Report_cards_aff436cff9.svg?updated_at=2024-02-16T21:04:23.683Z" alt="BEAD Dashboard">
</div><h2>ARC for BEAD applicants</h2>Apply for BEAD with confidence – at any size&nbsp;ARC saves busy providers of all sizes time by skipping the manual self-reporting&nbsp; and mountains of paperwork with a single digital console.&nbsp;This allows you to focus on your top priority: connecting happy subscribers. Software can’t pull fiber for you or deliver the great customer service you’re known for.&nbsp;Back Office Secret Sauce is your BEAD success platform built to help you replace your time-intensive, back-office processes with digital workflows.&nbsp;Bye, bye paperwork!<ul><li>Supply updates routinely</li><li>Coordinate deployment with marketing efforts</li></ul><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/2_26a1778ca0/2_26a1778ca0.svg?updated_at=2024-02-16T21:04:18.366Z" alt="BEAD Whiteboard">
</div>&nbsp;<h2>ARC for key stakeholders</h2>Busy consultants&nbsp;who need to be able to do more with less.Utility insurers&nbsp;and&nbsp;investors leverage ARC to follow the journey of their grant-backed utility deployments.How does ARC work?&nbsp;ARC replaces manual self-reporting with software together with the proofs required from systems of record utilized by the awardee operator. Answer tough geospatial questions ✨automagically✨with the latest snapshot:<ul><li>Where is the network now?</li><li>&nbsp;How is service at location X?</li><li>What plans are available and at what price?</li><li>Are broadband performance obligations met?</li><li>Audit Trail to ensure all stakeholder interactions are captured and retrievable</li></ul>ARC gathers proof from operator systems of record and, unlike messy manual self-reporting, tethers operator equipment for source-of-truth.<div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/ready-net-public-assets/Reporting_and_Compliance_tracking_0ca019e5c4/Reporting_and_Compliance_tracking_0ca019e5c4.svg?updated_at=2024-02-16T21:04:26.859Z" alt="Track Reporting and Compliance">
</div>Proof of PassingsARC’s open Proof of Passings Standard (POPS) allows you to use any BABA-compliant equipment and still benefit from the time savings.<ul><li>Geospatial attestations of service availability, quality, and affordability&nbsp;</li><li>Automate and digitize passings reporting process</li></ul>Proof of Marketing<ul><li>BEAD requires proof that awardees make demonstrable efforts to market plans to unserved and underserved locations.</li></ul>Proof of Labor<ul><li>Davis-Bacon and other labor and workforce requirements are just as vital to BEAD compliance as monitoring service.</li></ul>Broadband Audit<ul><li>The Broadband Audit serves as the ongoing, public report card that evaluates the state of broadband service and penetration in each state and territory</li><li>Get alerts for non-compliant events and upcoming requirements</li></ul>Performance Test &amp; Survey<ul><li>Double check and verify the broadband quality you expect to see within communities</li></ul>And more of the tools that make ARC:&nbsp;<ul><li>Proof of Service</li><li>Proof of Low Cost Option</li><li>Proof of Funding</li></ul>&nbsp;<h2>ARC in the wild: the Diamond State is Ready for BEAD</h2>Arkansas is the first state slated to utilize Ready’s automated Recording &amp; Compliance tools. Arkansas Broadband Office and Arkansas’ internet service providers will enhance their productivity and streamline this important component of the BEAD process between the state, applicants, consultants, and key&nbsp; stakeholders.&nbsp;

Simplifying Reporting and Compliance for every stage of the BEAD process.

Blog Article Categories

Broadband Data

Broadband Funding

Broadband Mapping

ISPs

Starlink

State Broadband Office

State Broadband Resource