D.C. Title: Small ISP Erupts over NTIA's ‘Highly Suspect’ BEAD Award to Delaware
◾ Breezeline Drops 5,700 Broadband Subs ◾ Nexstar Responds to Altice Charge ◾ ookla: Comcast, Charter Wi-Fi Speeds Surging ◾ Charter Giving $2.5M to Fight L.A. Fires ◾ AOC Did Not Land Telecom Seat
BEAD: A small ISP serving parts of Delaware erupted yesterday after NTIA said it had given final approval to the award of $107 million in BEAD money to the state of Delaware. Talkie Communications under Co-CEO Andre DeMattia tried to block NTIA's action, saying the money would be used to overbuild 31 Talkie locations in Delaware that had already received broadband subsidy money from the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). "Talkie is deeply disappointed by today’s NTIA approval of Delaware’s BEAD proposal, a decision that represents blatantly political opportunism in the waning days of the current Administration – led by a President from Delaware," DeMattia said in an email to Policyband. "The timing is highly suspect and suggests a last-minute attempt to funnel taxpayer dollars to the President’s allies." Under Delaware’s plan, only $17.4 million (all going to Verizon) will pay for broadband deployment projects. The rest will be spent on workforce development and network resilience projects. "Delaware’s Final Proposal outlines its plan for using the more than $107 million in allocated BEAD funding to connect 5,721 households and businesses," NTIA said in a press release. DeMattia outlined his concerns in a highly detailed Dec. 24 letter sent to numerous officials within the Commerce Department, including NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. "This approval undermines the principles of fairness and equity, as NTIA has manipulated the process to favor large corporate incumbents, shutting out small and minority-owned businesses that were supposed to be the backbone of this initiative," DeMattia said in his email.