Dear friends and partners,
Western North Carolina stands at a pivotal moment for connectivity. Between Hurricane Helene repairs, building for resiliency, and maintaining our focus on reaching unserved locations, we are realizing a clear connectivity vision. Helene taught me about the importance of technology neutrality, and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program was poised to bring long-awaited investment into the unserved corners of our mountains—places where reliable internet has been out of reach.
I hope we can work together to make sure Western North Carolina finds the best solutions for every home, business, and community anchor institution—while also ensuring we make space for whatever it takes to get people online. Join us next week to learn more about a technology that’s newer to us, LEO, from broadband expert Doug Dawson and how we’re measuring success with Benton’s own Caroline Stratton.
Warm regards,
Sara Nichols
Blue Ridge Broadband Alliance
In This Edition
Upcoming Meetings
Drew’s Policy Corner
BEAD Awards and Satellite
Big Broadband Stories
More News
Upcoming Meetings
- November: The November 11th Zoom meeting has been rescheduled to November 18th to avoid Veteran’s Day. Please update your calendar or re-register to get an updated event.’
- December: The December BRBA meeting will be Tuesday December 9.
Drew’s Policy Corner
Happy November!
There’s some reason to feel thankful this month—on November 3, Governor Josh Stein announced the Broadband Recovery Program, which sets aside $50 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to restore and strengthen high-speed internet access in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. Internet service providers with projects in the 39 counties that received a disaster declaration can apply for funding to reconnect or repair broadband infrastructure. Application deadline November 24. Find more information here.
In other, less-positive news, the Senate is considering a bill that could eliminate BEAD’s “non-deployment” category of activities. This bill, if enacted, could reduce North Carolina’s BEAD budget by over $1 billion and deny funding for digital opportunity programs, devices, workforce development, telehealth, and other broadband-related activities. It’s not a done deal yet—the bill hasn’t even officially been introduced—but it is a sign of the fight to come.
We’ll keep you posted as both initiatives move forward.
BEAD Awards and Satellite
North Carolina, where I live, recently announced its preliminary awards for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. The State has allocated $408.5 million for preliminary BEAD awards out of an allocation of BEAD money to the State of $1.5 billion. That leaves an astounding $1.1 billion on the table and likely unspent. There is some hope that the unspent money, referred to as non-deployment funds, will be at least partially available to the State for broadband-related activities. But that possibility seems to be dwindling every day.
The State had to cover 93,138 homes and 374 community anchor institutions with the BEAD funds. The State made awards to build fiber to 68 percent of the locations, to deploy cable or fixed wireless to 2 percent of locations, and to subsidize low-orbit satellite providers for the remaining 30 percent of locations.
Now that the awards have been announced, we can finally see the proposed BEAD areas by location and technology. I live in Western North Carolina, that was devastated a year ago by Hurricane Helene. There was a lot of hope in this part of the state that most of the awards would go to fiber. The State mostly did okay for Western North Carolina. Of the 29,400 BEAD-eligible locations in this part of the state, over 24,000 went to internet service providers who promise to build fiber, leaving 5,300 locations that will get awards for low-orbit satellite. Most of the satellite funding in the State went to Kuiper, which got $15.9 million out of the $18.3 million awarded to satellite. People here are scratching their heads, wondering why a company with only a hundred satellites is being awarded grant funding.
But now that the funding for satellite has sunk in, I’m starting to see what this means for Western North Carolina. First, there are five counties where satellite was awarded to all of the eligible BEAD locations—Clay, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, and Yancey.
What do County officials in those counties tell people? The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is giving money mostly to Kuiper and some to Starlink to be able to offer them satellite broadband. All of the BEAD-eligible locations in these counties can already buy satellite broadband from Starlink. The only benefit of BEAD for these residents is that they will probably get a free receiver for enrolling as a BEAD customer. Any hope these counties had of filling in the map with fiber is now gone.
There may be future broadband grants. For example, the US Department of Agriculture is planning a new round of ReConnect grants. But even if we assume that ReConnect can be used to cover areas served by satellite, ReConnect won’t make a big dent in areas given satellite from BEAD. So far, with 45 states reporting preliminary BEAD results, the two satellite companies have been awarded $707 million in BEAD. That’s a lot of locations nationwide, and the number is likely going to grow significantly before BEAD grants are final.
It was understood from the time that the BEAD rules were adopted by Congress that there would have to be some remote locations that can’t be reached with fiber. But nobody thought it would be nearly as many as we are seeing. The BEAD grants were originally going to award $45.5 billion in grants, but it now looks like the actual awards will be less than half of that amount.
In North Carolina, a lot of the 5,300 locations in Western North Carolina could have gotten fiber if the state had been able to use more of the $1.1 billion it will be returning to Treasury. I fully understand the desire to be cost-conscious with federal funding, but BEAD was intended by Congress to be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build long-term broadband infrastructure for a lot of rural America. I always assumed that the BEAD emphasis on fiber first would have meant that States would be judged for the whole portfolio of grants being awarded, and wouldn’t shy from awarding BEAD for areas where construction costs are higher than average.
I have to mention that the proposed grant awards are far from final. I’ve heard from multiple States that NTIA is now asking them to either reduce the amount of funding for some grants or reassign the money to somebody else. That likely will mean even more locations will go to satellite by the time the dust settles and the BEAD grants are final.
By Doug Dawson, CCG Consulting
Big Broadband Stories
Canceled Digital Equity Act grants disrupt projects aimed at getting underserved people online | Texas Public Radio | Shelly Brisbin | November 9, 2025
The Trump administration’s decision earlier this year not to release Digital Equity Act grant funds to states and nonprofit groups working to bridge the digital divide has meant disruption or cancellation of programs helping people with limited internet skills get online, or learn to use the internet more effectively. In Western North Carolina, which is still recovering from Hurricane Helene, Digital Equity Act money would have replenished funds that regional governments had used to help residents get back online after last fall’s storm. Sara Nichols, who is energy and economic development program manager for Land of Sky Regional Council, a coalition of governments in Western North Carolina, says the agency won a $7.7 million grant, along with several partner organizations, to expand training for underserved groups in the region. “We saw gaps in how people are able to access the internet. But these community partners are really connected to how the people they serve in the populations struggle to get online and stay online,” Nichols said.
Governor Josh Stein Announces $50 Million Broadband Recovery Program to Rebuild High-Speed Internet Infrastructure in Western North Carolina | North Carolina Office of the Governor | November 3, 2025
Governor Josh Stein announced a $50 million Broadband Recovery Program that will provide grants to help internet service providers rebuild and repair broadband infrastructure destroyed by Hurricane Helene. Impacted internet service providers are invited to apply for funding. Under the new program, internet service providers with infrastructure projects in the 39 Hurricane Helene disaster-designated counties, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, may apply for funding for reconstruction or repair of broadband infrastructure needed to connect residents, businesses, and community institutions to reliable high-speed internet. The Broadband Recovery Program prioritizes funding for the restoration of broadband service. Broadband providers may submit applications and estimated costs for the Broadband Recovery Program online by 11:59 p.m. Nov. 24 through NCDIT’s Broadband Infrastructure Office Data Exchange. Program guidance, eligibility requirements, and application materials are available at www.ncbroadband.gov/broadbandrecovery. Questions about the program can be sent to [email protected].
Digital Opportunity in Action | CCG Consulting | Doug Dawson | October 21, 2025
I recently attended a wonderful event sponsored by the Blue Ridge Broadband Alliance. The BRBA is headquartered in Asheville and is focused on improving broadband in the many rural counties in Western North Carolina. The Alliance is being led by Sara Nichols with help from two great sponsors—The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Dogwood Health Trust’s Digital Opportunities Initiative. The event I attended was a Digital Opportunity Pitch Party, where four local groups made a pitch to the crowd and to a great panel of judges to vie for funding to support their digital opportunity efforts. The four organizations that made pitches were AB Tech, OurJourney, Swift App School, and Through the Trees in 828. All four pitches highlighted great local efforts to assist people in the region with digital assistance. The overall winner was OurJourney. This is a non-profit organization whose founders were formerly incarcerated and now have a mission to support those who are returning from incarceration with their reentry journey. People often tell me that they don’t fully understand what digital opportunity training really does. OurJourney is one of many examples from around the country of local organizations and programs that are helping those who most need the help to navigate the digital world. They are doing it in the only way that really works: by helping people one-on-one.
More News
North Carolina senator sues over AI-generated likeness in Whirlpool ad | Axios | November 6, 2025
After the Storm | NCTA – The Internet & Television Association