- Fixed wireless access won fewer BEAD locations than Tarana hoped but it remains upbeat about the program’s future, said exec Carl Guardino
- Guardino is skeptical about satellite’s viability in the BEAD program
- Tarana is encouraged by ongoing discussion about protecting CBRS spectrum
The revised Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program aimed to give non-fiber providers a bigger seat at the table. Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite gained traction but the same can’t be said for fixed wireless access (FWA), according to Tarana VP of Government Affairs and Policy Carl Guardino.
In his view, FWA “underperformed” as only about 11% of BEAD eligible locations were awarded to fixed wireless providers, per Connected Nation data. The lion’s share of funds went to fiber providers who won approximately 67% of locations.
Guardino argued some states made “a lot of assumptions well beyond the 100/20 [Mbps] floor on speed,” noting they determined providers are “only scalable and get the most points” if they can show proof of gig-or-higher symmetrical speeds.
NTIA’s definition of a “priority broadband project” includes any technology that can “easily scale over time” to support growing connectivity needs, which gave states wiggle room in how they dole out funds without going against NTIA’s policy notice.
“But I don’t want to look back as much as I want to look forward,” Guardino said, stressing that Tarana plans to do what it can to help its FWA customers navigate the BEAD process.
“We don’t want to see our ISPs slowed down or turn down grants or default on grants,” he said. “We want to help our state and territorial broadband offices to have processes in place to move those dollars out the door quickly.”
The BEAD administrative process is moving along, with NTIA as of Monday, approving Final Proposals for 50 out of 56 states and territories.
Skepticism about BEAD LEO performance
Guardino also expressed skepticism about LEO’s viability for BEAD. SpaceX and Amazon scored funding for 20% of locations, “but there are legitimate concerns about how that’s going to work out,” he said.
He noted plenty of states suffer from inclement weather, whether that’s rain, snow or cloud cover, so LEO “will have a very difficult time delivering” in those areas.
Guardino pointed out Starlink’s uplink speeds still fall short of NTIA’s 20 Mbps upload threshold, though Ookla data shows Starlink’s average upload speed steadily climbed in recent years and now sits at about 17 Mbps.
While LEO “absolutely has a place” in BEAD, he said it’ll be a tough order for satellite providers to deliver “affordable, reliable, high-speed, low latency broadband in a time-efficient manner.”
“I think it’s going to struggle in each of those five categories,” Guardino said. “I hope to be proven wrong, because we’re talking about real families and real taxpayer dollars.”
Tarana encouraged by pro-CBRS movement
Tarana is actively using Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum for its next-gen FWA technology, but the future of that band is in a precarious spot.
President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act didn’t expressly protect CBRS, and its passage came after AT&T and the Department of Defense (DoD) called for relocating CBRS to the lower 3 GHz band.
Despite the tension around CBRS, Guardino is encouraged by the opposition he’s seeing to proposed CBRS changes.
“We are hearing publicly and privately stated comments from NTIA, the FCC and certainly from bipartisan voices in the House and Senate: Don’t mess with CBRS,” he said.
However, “that could change. There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip. So we’re not taking it for granted,” he added.
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