Minnesota, Georgia broadband officials urge NTIA to tap $21B BEAD surplus for rising costs

At the Mountain Connect conference in Denver, Minnesota broadband director Bree Maki and Georgia broadband director Sarah Baska described rising provider costs and a project refusal, and said NTIA should let states use surplus BEAD funds to cover cost overruns. A related Broadband Breakfast opinion piece cited provider pullouts in Oregon, Nebraska, and Texas as further evidence, echoing calls for NTIA to release portions of the roughly $21 billion in remaining BEAD funds, a figure NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth has separately confirmed as the expected savings amount.