The NTIA has released its Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO), which specifies how the $42.25 billion of BEAD funds will be allocated to the states, what types of services will be eligible to receive subsidies, and how the states should go about distributing funds. The rules laid out in the 98-page document will have large and lasting effects on broadband deployment and on how the federal and state governments will interact with broadband providers. This panel of experts discussed the ins and outs of the NOFO and what it means for the BEAD funding applications from the 50 states and 6 eligible entities.

Panelists included:

• Michelle Connolly, Professor of the Practice, Economics Department, Duke University
• Evan Feinman, Director, Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Evelyn Remaly, Partner, Wilkinson, Barker Knauer, LLP
• Paroma Sanyal, Senior Consultant, The Brattle Group
• Nicol Turner-Lee, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies and Director, Center for Technology Innovation, The Brookings Institution
• Sarah Oh Lam (co-moderator), Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
• Scott Wallsten (co-moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute