BEAD applications are open in Louisiana, Montana

Louisiana officially launched its grant application portal for providers to apply for funds through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. At a press conference on Monday (August 19) helmed by Governor Jeff Landry and the state's broadband director Veneeth Iyengar, Louisiana officially kicked off "GUMBO 2.0," which is the state's program to close the remaining digital divide with BEAD funding.

"Gumbo" is an acronym that stands for Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities, and it's the moniker Louisiana's broadband office – ConnectLA – has used for its grant program since 2021. Louisiana has spent roughly $131 million in federal funding through Gumbo 1.0 to connect 65,000 locations across the state. The BEAD program is expected to connect an additional 140,000.

Louisiana was the first state in the nation to become fully approved to execute its BEAD plans after receiving the NTIA's sign-off on its initial BEAD proposal back in December 2023. Louisiana joins Montana in kicking off BEAD applications, which also opened its BEAD application portal last week after receiving NTIA approval on its BEAD proposal earlier this month. Louisiana and Montana were allocated $1.35 billion and $629 million by the NTIA for the BEAD program, respectively.

Related:The Divide: ConnectLA's Veneeth Iyengar on Louisiana's BEAD and digital equity plans

Louisiana officially started accepting BEAD applications on August 15. It will close its first round of applications on August 29, with another round to follow. Montana's application deadline is October 15. States have a year from receiving NTIA approvals on their initial proposals to review BEAD applications and submit their final funding proposals to NTIA for sign-off.

Approved providers

As per BEAD rules, states must also pre-qualify applicants for the program. Louisiana this month released a list of 33 pre-qualified applicants for BEAD, which includes providers such as AT&T, Brightspeed, Charter, Comcast, Conexon, Cox and SpaceX, among other local and municipal providers, including LiveOak Fiber, LUS Fiber and more.

As ConnectLA's Iyengar pointed out at Monday's press conference, that is nearly double the number of providers participating in the state's first iteration of the Gumbo program. That's notable because some in the industry have drummed up concerns that BEAD regulations may prevent providers from participating.

"Over the next six to eight weeks, we're going to work with the Internet service providers as it relates to the bidding platform, as it relates to executing on this program, as it relates to bidding on all this work," said Iyengar at the press conference, which was live streamed on YouTube. "I think you can be in Louisiana very much pro-people and pro-private sector, and that's what we've done ... In the first round of our Gumbo grant program 1.0, we had 18 different Internet service providers apply for our funds. This time, we have nearly double that. We have 33 different ISPs who have looked at Louisiana, looked at the policies, looked at how we're going to execute, and have realized that they want to not only place their capital, but they want the best for all of Louisiana."

Montana does not yet have a public list of pre-approved providers on its ConnectMT website and appears to still be accepting pre-qualification applications as of this writing.

In a statement on Tuesday, Gary Bolton, CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, congratulated both states for their progress with BEAD.

"The Fiber Broadband Association would like to congratulate the states of Montana and Louisiana for becoming the first two states to begin accepting applications for projects under the BEAD program," said Bolton. "Moving onto the application step means that states and territories are that much closer to ensuring the bridge of the digital divide, connecting millions of Americans to high-speed internet access."

According to NTIA's BEAD dashboard, there are currently 21 states and territories that still need NTIA approval on their initial proposals before they can begin accepting BEAD grant applications. An additional 35, including Louisiana and Montana, have been approved.