Vermont is about to get a boatload of federal money to help pay for its broadband build-out.
The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program will bring $229 million to the state.
That’s about one-third of all the money Vermont needs to supply everyone with high-speed broadband service.
But that money is about to hit as state officials are having some tough conversations about whether low-income Vermonters will be able to afford their internet service once their homes are connected.
Vermont Public’s Howard Weiss-Tisman recently spoke with host Jenn Jarecki to share more. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Jenn Jarecki: Howard, can you start by reminding us about the program that's supporting the broadband build-out across the state?
Howard Weiss-Tisman: So, these are these communications union districts (CUDs) we've heard about, and it's built on a model from a group in the Upper Valley called ECFiber. And they were the first to do this, a bunch of towns in that region joined together. And the idea was to string up high-speed fiber to very rural homes that, you know, for-profit companies would never serve because it was not very profitable.
So, in 2015, lawmakers wrote legislation that kind of enabled other groups across the state to do this, and there are now 10 CUDs, and this work is ongoing. They've been working very hard over the past few years. There was a big shot of money during COVID, that kind of jump-started the whole process. And right now, about a third of the addresses that were not strung up prior to this now have service. So the work is ongoing, and the CUDs have been pretty successful.
Jenn Jarecki: Well, as we heard in the introduction, Howard, Vermont is about to get a lot of federal money to support that work. Will you tell us more about the BEAD program?
Howard Weiss-Tisman: So, the BEAD program was part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law the Biden administration put together and this is delivering billions of dollars across the state. As we heard, Vermont's gonna get $229 million. And it's coming at a really crucial time because as we said, the CUDs have kind of started the work, they've done a lot of pre-construction. And a lot of the CUDs are getting to the point where they need more cash infusion to kind of keep the work going. Rob Fish is a staff member with the Vermont Community Broadband Board, and this is what he said about the program.
Rob Fish: This BEAD money is going to bring us closer than we’ve ever been to the finish line of ensuring that all Vermonters have high-speed internet access. Everybody has been waiting for this program since it was announced in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill several years ago. It’s been a long process. It’s been a good process, but I think people at this point are ready to apply for the money and start building.
Howard Weiss-Tisman: So, Vermont right now is waiting for federal approval of the process. What's really important to point out is that this is competitive money. So, the ARPA money that came in during Congress, every town kind of got a chunk of that, those were called block grants. But this $229 million, this is going to be a competitive process. So you know, there will be winners and losers during this. This money is not everything Vermont needs, there's probably still going to be about a $90 million or $100 million gap. But it's really important because the federal money, the more federal money that we can put into the broadband build-out right now, will help control costs. So, all the CUDs are waiting for this. Once the feds approve our process, the CUDs will be applying for the money in the fall. And the members of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, they're hoping to start handing out this money early next year.
Jenn Jarecki: Howard, you listened in on a Vermont Community Broadband Board meeting recently and there were some heated debates about affordability, right? Can you tell us a bit more about that?
Howard Weiss-Tisman: Yeah, sure. So, VCBB meetings are usually pretty tame. There's always some really interesting stuff going on. But for the most part, the board members can agree, but there was a lot of really interesting debate about this idea of affordability.
The attorney for the Vermont Community Broadband Board put together some slides and it was her opinion that the work the VCBB is doing, the attorney said that it's a requirement of the board that they have to consider affordability. And as they're giving out money, the attorney said that you know, the board has to be considering affordability. But there were some really interesting discussions going on about that.
Here's a clip from Laura Sibilia, she's a lawmaker from Dover. She was one of the key supporters of the legislation that set up the broadband build-out. And she's also on the VCBB. She said that it is absolutely not a requirement to consider affordability when they're setting policy.
Laura Sibilia: So, I’m not opposed to us developing an affordability policy, I’m not opposed to any of that. I am really interested in us being clear about what our mandate is. And in almost every case, affordability occurs after the phrase, "access to reliable." And so it is access that was the priority. So I just want to make sure we don’t get confused about what our job is here.
Howard Weiss-Tisman: So, this debate comes as — there's another federal program called the Affordable Conductivity Program, or ACP. And we've been hearing a lot about that. This was a federal subsidy that helped about 25,000 Vermonters pay for their broadband. That funding ran out, and so the board is trying to weigh all this with this federal money, and you know, it's like every dollar they have, should that go towards stringing up high-speed fiber? Or should some of that money go towards supporting low-income Vermonters? And there's some real tension there.
Jenn Jarecki: So Howard, how do you think this will play out? I mean, what is the point of having access to reliable internet if it's unaffordable?
Howard Weiss-Tisman: Yeah, that's a good question. And it remains to be seen really how they're going to figure this out. You know, kind of the rub is in these rural areas, first of all, it's just more expensive to string up high-speed fiber. One number I heard is that you know, in Chittenden County where there are a lot of homes and there's access to poles, etc., you know, cost about $2,000 per address. But in the more rural parts of the state, it could cost $10,000 or $12,000 per address. So, it's more expensive to connect these homes and at the same time in a lot of these places — Essex County, Caledonia counties, really across the state — these rural areas have more low-income folks. So, it's a really tough balance because the board is, you know, really reticent to force these CUDs to come up with business plans that just might not be sustainable. You know, you can't tell them that you can only charge so much for this service, and they'll have to fold, so it's a very tough balance.
Right now, the board is trying to work on an affordability policy. They're trying to figure out, you know, how they should bake in this affordability and accountability into the money they're giving out. But, you know, as we heard from that clip from Rep. Sibilia, they don't know what they're gonna do yet. They're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place and they're gonna have to figure this out as all of this federal money is about to land here.
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