Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) will kick off Vermont’s state-led Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) challenge process on March 18, 2024. The challenge process will permit local government, nonprofit organizations, and broadband service providers to challenge the service availability at Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) from the FCC's National Broadband Map and Community Anchor Institutions identified by the VCBB.
These challenges will determine VCBB’s final list of BSLs that are eligible for BEAD funding. Challenges must be based on whether the BEAD map correctly shows if BSLs are served, underserved, or unserved for purposes of BEAD, not whether a BSL appears or does not appear on the BEAD map.
The NTIA approved Vermont’s final version of our BEAD Initial Proposal Volume 1, which allows the kick-off of the state-led challenge process. Prior to participation, permissible challengers representing local governments, nonprofit organizations, or broadband service providers must sign up to participate in Vermont's BEAD Process and must obtain a complimentary Tier D license from CostQuest to access the data in the portal and submit challenges. Eligible entities can apply for that license at NTIA Tier D License Request (costquest.com).
The challenge process will be administered through a portal that includes VCBB’s map of the unserved, underserved, and served BSLs in Vermont. You can access the data, view the map, and register to participate by going to the BEAD Challenge Information Page linked to the VCBB website. The map is based on the FCC’s National Broadband Map and modified to include addresses only considered served by DSL or wireless service as eligible for BEAD funding. BSLs that will be served using alternative public or private funding have been removed from eligibility.
Individuals and other entities who have objections to how the National Broadband Map characterizes service availability at BSLs are encouraged to reach out to their local governments. More information is available at Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program | Department of Public Service (vermont.gov).