<div>New Hampshire released a draft of its Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment initial proposal on November 13.It was part of a wave of states and territories that began seeking public comment on their drafts in recent weeks. All <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/11/all-states-and-territories-have-released-bead-proposals-for-public-comment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">56 have now done so</a>.New Hampshire’s broadband office expects its $196 million in BEAD funds will be enough to get broadband to every home and business in the state. Roughly 36,000 locations still lack reliable internet and are slated to be served by the program, according to the proposal.Volume oneThe state is <a href="https://www.nheconomy.com/getmedia/bb44be9b-9649-4f37-9da7-ccfbea6d3141/BEAD-Volume-1-Draft_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">planning to</a> adopt the NTIA’s model challenge process to accept and adjudicate claims of incorrect broadband data.New Hampshire is also electing to use one of the NTIA’s optional modifications to the model process. The state’s broadband office will designate all homes and businesses receiving broadband from copper telephone lines as underserved — and thus eligible for BEAD funding — regardless of the speed those locations are subscribed to.New Hampshire will also administer two optional challenge types the NTIA laid out: area and MDU challenges. States are not required to use these, but most are planning to do so.An area challenge is initiated if six or more locations in a census block group challenge the same technology from the same provider with sufficient evidence. The provider is then required to show evidence they provide the reported service to every location in the census block group, or the entire area will be opened up to BEAD funds.An MDU, or multiple dwelling unit, challenge is triggered when three units or 10 percent of the total units in an apartment building challenge a provider’s service. It again flips the burden of proof, requiring providers to prove they give the reported service for the entire building, not just units that submit challenges.Volume twoWhile New Hampshire is planning <a href="https://www.nheconomy.com/getmedia/bb85b09e-074c-4435-8100-a501f3aa16fd/BEAD-Volume-II-Draft.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to get broadband</a> to all its remaining unserved and underserved locations, the state’s broadband office does not expect to have money left over for non-deployment activities like affordability plans and digital literacy training.Like most states, New Hampshire won’t be setting a high-cost threshold before looking over all BEAD grant applications. That’s the cost at which the state will start accepting projects using cheaper non-fiber technologies.The state’s funding may be sufficient to avoid setting such a threshold at all, it said in the proposal.New Hampshire said its financing requirements may be adjusted by the <a href="https://broadbandbreakfast.com/2023/11/ntia-will-allow-alternatives-to-letter-of-credit-for-bead-funding-in-new-guidance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NTIA’s updated guidance</a>, but did not specify specific parts of the waiver it would use.The public comment period for New Hampshire's volume one and two are open until December 13. </div>

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New Hampshire's BEAD IP, Volumes One and Two

<div>It's that time of the year when publications tell readers what trends they should be watching for the foreseeable future. The <a href="https://www.axios.com/tech-policy-battles-states-2022-9571ea3a-8439-4305-9bb5-03fa7391c506.html?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&amp;stream=top">mainstream focus</a> is on state, federal and global efforts to rein in big technology companies' power over business and individuals' lives, as it should be. But there's another <a href="https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2021/12/02/12122/">ongoing</a> <a href="https://www.fiercetelecom.com/regulatory/utopia-fiber-leader-says-providers-dread-overbuilding-to-close-digital-divide">conflict</a> that's just as important, but more difficult to track cohesively. That's the battle over just who should be rolling out our upgraded broadband networks, and how they should be run. Federal economic rescue efforts and infrastructure spending will supercharge this battle over the next few years. MuniNetworks has a <a href="https://muninetworks.org/content/monopoly-providers-mire-ntia-broadband-grant-process-costly-empty-challenges">new piece </a>up on the latest skirmish. It's about how incumbent telecommunication providers Comcast and Charter are challenging efforts to build locally-run and controlled municipal broadband networks with <a href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/resources/grant-programs/broadband-infrastructure-program">broadband infrastructure funding </a>from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA.) This particular challenge is to Grafton County, <a href="https://discuss.broadband.money/c/state-broadband-office-directory/contact-new-hampshire-broadband-office">New Hampshire</a> an area of just over 91,000 residents ﻿<action-text-attachment sgid="BAh7CEkiCGdpZAY6BkVUSSIwZ2lkOi8vanVtcHN0YXJ0LWFwcC9FbWJlZC8yMzc3NDE_ZXhwaXJlc19pbgY7AFRJIgxwdXJwb3NlBjsAVEkiD2F0dGFjaGFibGUGOwBUSSIPZXhwaXJlc19hdAY7AFQw--554b70011b5c7bcea612b4bbfbe98a4d11edceb6" content-type="embed"></action-text-attachment>﻿  Per MuniNetworks:  </div><blockquote>Grafton hopes to use the NTIA funding to provide a middle mile fiber network, making it easier for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to service each municipality and the county’s 90,000 residents. The network will be open access, inviting numerous ISPs to compete over the same shared infrastructure. Studies <a href="https://today.law.harvard.edu/berkman-broadband-study-stresses-open-access/">have repeatedly shown</a> such open access models <a href="https://www.benton.org/sites/default/files/OAMM_networks.pdf">result in better, cheaper, faster service</a>. </blockquote><div> </div><blockquote>“The whole idea is that we want to facilitate competition,” Bristol town administrator Nik Coates shared in a recent phone interview. “I get at least an email a day from people contacting me about how bad their service is.” According to the FCC Form 477 data (which can dramatically overstate access), there are more than 5,300 people in the county completely unserved by wireline connections capable of speeds at 25/3 Megabits per second (Mbps). </blockquote><div> </div><blockquote>Many more residents lack access to 100/20 Mbps connections ... Threatened by the potential for a more competitive broadband market, Coates says incumbent ISPs like Comcast and Charter Spectrum have been bombarding the NTIA grant approval process with a series of dubious challenges, claiming that grant applicants are trying to duplicate existing service, making community alternatives and upgrades unnecessary.</blockquote><div> Grafton’s grant application covered 4,000 census blocks. The incumbents challenged 3,000 of them -- even blocks that were mostly cemeteries.  Coates told MuniNetworks that the incumbents overstated available speeds and existing coverage using <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/09/att-hopes-youll-forget-its-years-long-fight-against-accurate-broadband-maps/">flawed maps</a> from the Federal Communications Commission.  The county was able to counter-challenge the incumbents with its own survey data. Coates told MuniNetworks that "a recent county survey of 2,400 locals that found most homes in Grafton have Internet access that fails well below the FCC’s base definition of broadband: 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. </div><div>“It clearly shows that people are not getting the speeds that you’re saying they’re getting, so you go prove otherwise,” Coates said." This is a process that's going to repeat itself hundreds, if not thousands of times over the next few years at the NTIA, the FCC, at state legislatures, state broadband authorities, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Santa-Clara-County-supes-to-consider-creating-16692936.php">county</a>, <a href="https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2021/05/14/opinion-do-we-really-need-a-municipal-broadband-system">city</a> and town level governments as everyone fights for their share of the billions available for broadband networks. That's why it's important for local journalists like David Brooks of the Concord Monitor to <a href="https://www.concordmonitor.com/broadband-nh-new-hampshire-43956761">keep writing stories </a>about broadband's ongoing rollout and evolution and who's influencing that evolution.  That's why it's important for leaders to keep <a href="https://www.shaheen.senate.gov/news/press/shaheen-meets-virtually-with-nh-stakeholders-to-discuss-broadband-investments-heading-to-nh-from-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-package-">holding discussions with stakeholders </a>about ongoing efforts to improve access. That's why it's important for <a href="https://www.mainebroadbandcoalition.org/">state and local leaders to build coalitions to build support</a> for building the kind of networks that locals want. And that's why we all need to respond to requests from local authorities to fill out their surveys about broadband speeds, needs and availability. So public officials actually have the data to push back at bogus lobbying efforts based on flawed maps. (btw, you can take a <a href="https://www.wifi.wtf/">speed test here</a>.)</div><div> If you have any stories of success at building coalitions, maps or any other efforts to build out local broadband networks, I'd love to hear from you. </div>

Here's the Under-The-Radar Battle Over Billions You Need To Track In 2022

Matthew Conserva

Broadband Program Manager

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Matthew Conserva Broadband Business Administrator NH Department of Business &amp; Economic Affairs (BEA) matthew.e.conserva1@livefree.nh.gov Phone: (603) 271-4963

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