Hudson Wants to See BEAD Non-Deployment Funds Go to NG911 Transition

Also at the Incompas event, industry representatives, lawmakers and others repeatedly discussed topics such as the need for permitting reform and submarine cable policy.

Hudson said one challenge of using non-deployment BEAD funds for NG911 is the lack of a good estimate of what the NG911 transition will cost for counties that haven't yet done it.

Hudson also said he's “cautiously optimistic” about a permitting reform package getting through Congress this year. “Right now it's kind of hung up in partisanship,” but many Democrats understand the need for permitting reform. “Their windmills and solar farms need permitting reform, too.” Permitting is a bottleneck on broadband deployment, he said, though Democrats argue that permitting reform would hurt local control.

NTIA “is doing a fantastic job” with BEAD since reforming the program last year, Hudson added. Prior to that, there had been “a lot of pressure” from GOP lawmakers to cancel BEAD altogether and claw the money back, given how slowly it was proceeding and the numerous program requirements that were unrelated to broadband deployment, such as labor and environmental requirements, he said.

House Commerce Committee member Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, also talked up the need for permitting reform and the Broadband and Telecommunications Rail Act (HR-6046). Years of “good intentions layered on good intentions” have made construction difficult in the U.S., he said. “You know we have to remove those layers” via permitting reform. He noted that there's growing momentum for permitting reform in the House, but the Senate is more of a question mark.

Asked about the use of BEAD non-deployment funds, Landsman said that with the demise of the affordable connectivity program, he wants to see money go toward broadband affordability issues. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering said some non-deployment BEAD funds should go to states and localities for ramping up their permitting capacity, such as hiring engineers.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman R-Ark., expressed confidence that HR-4776, which would restrict the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act and speed up NEPA permitting, will get through the Senate. The House adopted it in 2025, and it has bipartisan support, he said.

Permit Problems

Permitting is Uniti’s biggest hurdle for its consumer and wholesale fiber deployments, said David Avery, the company's vice president of government affairs. Ariane Schaffer, head of public policy and government affairs at GFiber, said fiber providers want to see reliability and predictability in permitting rules, so companies know what's required and what the expected time frames are.

Permitting is still often a manual process, and states and localities need to be aware that demand for permitting is going to grow, said FiberCom Engineering CEO Brendan West. Railroad crossings and pole attachments are two particular pain points for permitting, he added.

Multiple operators also complained about headaches with railroad crossing permits.

Conterra Networks Senior Counsel Ben Sanborn said railroads have no incentive to address the cost and response times for permits -- they can charge tens of thousands of dollars and often take 12-15 months. Avery said Uniti typically sees railroad permits costing $5,000 to $20,000 but recently was quoted $70,000 for one and $120,000 for another.

West argued that even finding out who to contact to submit a permit application for a particular stretch of railroad is overly laborious. Congress needs to step in and address railroad laws, he said.

Sanborn applauded North Carolina’s requirement that puts a shot clock on municipalities, with 30 days to review and either approve or reject an application. Avery said Uniti also likes the North Carolina statute, adding that it could easily work with other states.

Rebecca Hussey, associate general counsel for government relations at Crown Castle, said shot clocks have been the norm for wireless deployments and would be a logical extension for wireline and fiber. One hiccup is that municipalities sometimes don’t issue a permit even if it has been deemed approved because the shot clock has run out, so states and municipalities need to be aware of that, she noted.

Pointing to the Department of Agriculture’s national broadband team, which is tasked with moving along permits, Avery suggested that the Bureau of Land Management should have something similar. Getting permits from USDA is still a lengthy process, but the team has "helped immensely."

Submarine Cables

NCTA Associate General Counsel Pamela Arluk said submarine cables are a relatively new issue for the association, but members are increasingly interested because of their importance to AI and data centers. Paula Boyd, senior director of government and regulatory affairs at Microsoft, said cable breaks are typically accidental, resulting from things such as anchor drags or fishing, and thus a part of doing business. Even as the number of cables has grown significantly in recent years, the number of breaks hasn’t, thanks to advancements including improved ocean floor surveying to better burying, she said.

Submarine cable lawyer Evelyn Remaley of Wilkinson Barker said subsea cable supply chain issues are getting more attention from the federal government as China and others build up their capabilities in the information and communications sector and see cables as a strategy to dominate the digital economy.

House Communications Subcommittee member August Pfluger, R-Texas, said he plans to reintroduce his Undersea Cable Security and Protection Act and Gray Zone Defense Assessment Act. He’s also working on a bill called the U.S. Submarine Cable Policy Act, he added, which would modernize how the U.S. secures and licenses submarine cables while also giving industry faster, clearer FCC regulatory processes.

Incompas Notebook

Some competitive local exchange carriers voiced concerns about a proposed Dec. 31, 2028, deadline for transitioning to all-IP interconnection for voice services. Greg Rogers, head of global policy and regulatory affairs at Bandwidth, said that deadline would motivate incumbent LECs to tear out equipment prematurely, when there needs to be an orderly progression to an all-IP environment. There also must be particular care taken to ensure emergency calling isn’t disrupted, he noted.

Granite Telecommunications General Counsel Josh Ruby argued that even with a 2028 deadline, there wouldn't be full retirement of the entire time-division multiplexing (TDM) network. But, he said, no one has a clear idea what the deadline would mean for people still on TDM, and rural call completion could be at risk. He suggested that an easier route would be IP interconnection in the local exchange.

Asked about what bands would be best for the 800 MHz spectrum pipeline that the FCC is crafting, Nextlink Internet Chief Strategy Officer Claude Aiken said any band would work, but the bigger issue is that the FCC traditionally auctions spectrum in large geographic blocks that preclude anyone but giant, deep-pocket companies from taking part. He also argued that any change to the rules governing citizens broadband radio service band would be “catastrophic,” given all the programs that rely on it for service. Nextlink, a major holder of CBRS licenses, has built out heavily there over the past six years, relying on the status quo for the band, he said.

Hudson said Western nations “need to be on the same page” when it comes to tech standards to prevent China from setting global standards that will put a thumb on the scale for Chinese tech companies. It’s important for the West to show up at big international conferences with a unified voice, he added.

In addition, Senate Commerce Committee member Todd Young, R-Ind., said the U.S. is being "outflanked significantly" by China on 6G, so there must be more government-created incentives for issues like network resiliency.