The state of Louisiana has begun accepting applications for rural broadband funding that it received through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Thirty-three providers — including AT&T, Brightspeed, Charter, Comcast, Cox, and smaller companies — have been cleared to participate in this funding round. They have until August 29 to apply for funding.
Louisiana was the first state to have its BEAD funding released. The state was allocated more than $1.3 billion from the program to cover some of the costs of broadband deployments to unserved and underserved locations in the state.
The state will continue to use the GUMBO name for the program — the same name that was used for rural broadband funding previously received from the federal Capital Projects Fund. The program funded through BEAD will be known as GUMBO 2.0.
The Louisiana news comes just days after Montana began accepting BEAD applications, making that state the first to do so.
Louisiana BEAD Applications
Nearly 140,000 Louisiana locations are eligible for BEAD Funding. The state plans to award BEAD funding in two rounds.
Applicants will bid by sub project area (SPA) or groups of SPAs, with each SPA including approximately 800 eligible locations.
Only companies that were pre-qualified to bid in this round of the GUMBO program are allowed to apply for funding in this round. A complete list of pre-qualified companies is as follows:
- A2D Inc
- Acadiana Broadband
- Allen’s Communications
- AT&T
- AOP
- Brightspeed
- Broadband Services
- Cajun Broadband
- Charter
- ClearPath Fiber
- Comcast Cable Communications LLC
- Conexon Connect LLC
- Coushatta Tribe of LA
- Cox Communications
- Direct Communications
- Faster Cajun Networks
- FastWyre
- IBT Group USA LLC
- Kaptel
- Lake Bruin Wireless LLC
- LiveOak Fiber
- Louisiana Local Fiber Consortium
- LUS Fiber
- Lyte Fiber LLC
- Nextlink
- Pelican Broadband
- PhireLink
- Ritter Communications
- SkyRider Communications LLC
- SpaceX
- Trinity Communications
- Vexus Fiber
- Volt Broadband LLC
In a prepared statement, Veneeth Iyengar, Executive Director of Louisiana’s Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity, said the BEAD funding will eliminate the digital divide in the state over “the next couple of years.”
The impact, he said, will be “immeasurable as everyday Louisianans from the four corners of the state and in between will soon have an asset that will significantly impact their daily lives, whether in healthcare, education, in our ability to drive economic development wins and increase the labor force participation rate.”
Additional information about Louisiana broadband, including links to state funding resources, previous awards made, state specific Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
