The federal government has approved funding that will allow Vermont to complete the building of needed broadband infrastructure to get internet to all areas of the state.
In 2021 Congress approved the creation of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program with the goal of building the infrastructure to make high-speed internet available to all Americans. Of the $42.5 billion in funding nationally, Vermont was allocated $229 million.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which administers the program, has approved $93 million of the funds for Vermont to move from planning to implementation.
Vermont BEAD Director Alexi Monsarrat says it is an essential step for statewide broadband deployment.
“The next step then is we can actually start writing grant agreements and get moving on the actual construction, which is, that 93 is construction of the broadband networks.”
Vermont submitted its final plan for implementation last September. Vermont Community Broadband Board Executive Director Christine Hallquist says Vermont faces some unique challenges.
“There’s really two things that are unique for Vermont. In other states wireless can work pretty well. But in our state, we didn’t get any wireless bids because of the topography of the state. So, understanding the topography of our state as well as understanding Communication Union Districts, which were unique.”
Vermont formed the Communication Union Districts to plan for broadband deployment in various regions of the state. Hallquist says those districts have already made a difference.
“When the VCBB was formed about 30 percent of Vermont addresses had access to fiber. As of July 1st of ’25, last year, 72 percent. So we went from 30 percent to 72 percent because of the work of the CUDs had the ARPA contracts. This BEAD program is really to finish it up to get to 99 plus percent of the addresses. Actually, I should say we’re going to get to 100 percent. Right now we have a plan to get to about 99.5 percent. We’re examining the last 1,300 or so addresses.”
Once the state receives the $93 million, it has four years to finish the work. Vermont’s BEAD lead Monsarrat says the clock isn’t ticking quite yet.
“The formal award has to come from the National Institute for Standards and Technology. That should be to us in about 10 to 20 days. We have 30 days to sign it. Once we sign it that starts the clock ticking out 6 months that we have to sign all of the grant agreements. And that grant agreement signing with the actual provider is when each of those 4 year clocks start for them to complete the work.”
Hallquist adds that Vermont has an advantage over some states in meeting the four-year deadline because leaders are already coordinating with electric utilities, and a pre-apprenticeship program was created to make sure trained workers are available.
“What we’re seeing here with these grantees is they just want to keep moving. So I don’t think we’re going to have any problem meeting the 4 years, whereas some states are going to have challenges. And their biggest challenge is the coordination with the electric utilities. What happens is you have to have the electric line worker go out and prepare the pole to put the fiber optic lines on the pole. So, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done before you can run the fiber. Once that work is done, you can move really fast.”
Republican Gov. Phil Scott hailed the award, calling it “a major milestone for many of our rural towns and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen and revitalize communities.”
