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  "description": "Others say BEAD rules don’t allow it.",
  "path": "/wispa-argues-support-for-fwa-creates-bead-funding-surplus-for-states/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-07-31T17:13:17.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_June 6 BEAD_",
    "_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_",
    "There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...",
    "_Since the update,_",
    "_In an email Tuesday_",
    "_Vernonburg Group_",
    "_disagreed with that interpretation._",
    "_a July 8 analysis_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, July 31, 2025 – Fiber has its fan club, but Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) will yield monetary surpluses that states can use at their discretion.\n\nThat’s the view of WISPA – The Association for Broadband Without Boundaries, which is telling states that funding fixed wireless projects will mean more money to spend on non-deployment projects, such as broadband adoption.\n\nFollowing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s _June 6 BEAD_revisions – which adopted a more technology-neutral stance, shifting away from the program’s previous “fiber-first” approach – fixed wireless providers are now on equal footing with fiber.\n\n\n\n_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_\n\n There's a whole community behind your FREE membership... \n\n_Since the update,_ WISPA has promoted fixed wireless as a cost-effective option.\n\n“The clear intention for the BEAD program from the beginning has been to drive cost-effective investments in broadband networks using every tool at your disposal; the NTIA's updated policy guidance makes even more explicit that the agency expects states to fully embrace FWA and other innovative technologies,” said WISPA Director of State Advocacy **Steven Schwerbel.**\n\n_In an email Tuesday_ to all state broadband offices, WISPA argued that using FWA technology to connect unserved areas could leave states with extra BEAD money for non-deployment priorities.\n\nWISPA cited a study from the _Vernonburg Group_, a broadband consulting firm, which argued that states are legally allowed to spend leftover BEAD funds on non-deployment programs.\n\nBut others _disagreed with that interpretation._\n\nIn _a July 8 analysis_, economists **Gregory Rosston** and **Scott Wallsten** said the new rules prevent states from spending excess funds. They argued NTIA’s policy forces states to spend all their BEAD funds on broadband buildout, even when projects aren’t cost-effective.\n\n“By eliminating states’ ability to use leftover money, NTIA has created an incentive for them to spend as much of it as possible on connections, regardless of cost-effectiveness, as long as they meet minimal criteria,” they wrote.",
  "title": "WISPA Argues Support for FWA Creates BEAD Funding Surplus for States",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:48:49.138Z"
}