Agenda 2026

Join us for an interactive session to unite State Broadband offices, network operators and the entire ecosystem driving the successful implementation of the BEAD program. With refreshments served this interactive discussion session will focus on three critical areas:

Administration, Agreements, and the State Relationship

• Grant agreement structure, what is negotiable, and where subgrantees are getting surprised post-execution
• Permitting and NEPA/EHP, where Section 13(d) is working and where it is failing
• Gap between awarded funding and executed subgrants and what it signals about real deployment timelines

Compliance, Cash Flow, and Build Risk

• Milestone payments vs. actual project spending and how operators are getting caught on match
• Location removal, what it triggers, clawback exposure by state, and the long-term compliance tail
• PE exit timelines vs. BEAD's long-term operating commitment
• Labor and supply chain as every state moves to construction simultaneously

Building a Business Around BEAD, Now and Three Years From Now

• The program operators signed agreements under is not the program they will operate in three years
• Non-deployment fund status and where priority uses are heading
• Ownership transfer and M&A when long-term federal obligations are still on the clock