D.C. Memo: Alaska’s BEAD Plan Includes Eye-Popping Per-Location Costs
Is It Time for Alaska to Consider Moving People to Broadband Instead of Deploying Broadband to People at $113,000 Per Location?
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BEAD: A review of Alaska’s tentative BEAD awards showed per-location costs that would raise eyebrows anywhere, even in a state with vast distances, brutal winters and a short construction season. The spreadsheet totals came to nearly $777 million in federal support and about $49 million in Internet provider matches for 44,929 locations — an average outlay of roughly $18,387 per address, with only about 6% coming from providers.
Several awards blew past that average. GCI’s worked out to about $43,671 per location, Nushagak Electric & Telephone to roughly $57,715, and Quintillion Subsea tops six figures at about $113,578 per address. Others clustered in the $30,000–$40,000 range. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Starlink low Earth orbit satellite Internet service proposal was listed at about $1,500 per location for more than 14,000 locations — a reminder that alternatives exist when terrain and climate punish fiber builds. Alaska’s plan was reviewed and posted as a table on the LinkedIn page of Wes Robinson, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Eastex Telephone Cooperative. (More after paywall.)
