The Divide: Conexon's Jonathan Chambers on rural fiber, BEAD and the future of ACP

This episode features Jonathan Chambers, partner at Conexon, which is a company that partners with electric cooperatives to build rural fiber networks.

Conexon, which was one of the biggest winners in the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and the Connect America Fund II (CAF II), has completed more than 20 electric co-op fiber projects in the eight-plus years it's been around, with another 20 slated for completion in 2024. Most recently, the company announced wrapping up its fiber build for Middle Georgia EMC, for which Conexon's ISP arm, Conexon Connect, will deliver service.

Skepticism about BEAD

In addition to catching up on Conexon's progress, we discuss Chambers' concerns about the federal government's $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and why he's skeptical it will achieve its ultimate goal of closing the digital divide.

We also discuss a petition he filed with the FCC urging the agency to take steps to roll the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) into Lifeline before the benefit expires next month, how that would work – and more. (You can subscribe to Chambers' weekly newsletter mentioned in this episode here.)

Here are a few topics we cover:

Related:How the FCC could save the Affordable Connectivity Program

For a lightly edited transcript, click the caption button on the podcast player.