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2025 BEAD Funding Update: New Rules, More Delays—and a Tougher Road Ahead

2025 BEAD Funding Update: New Rules, More Delays—and a Tougher Road Ahead

UPDATE – June 23, 2025: BEAD Program Changes May Limit Funding for Estes Valley

Since this blog was originally published, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has released further updates to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that could impact our region’s eligibility for funding.

The NTIA has restructured the program under a new approach referred to as “The Benefit of the Bargain,” which emphasizes cost-efficiency over infrastructure type. These changes have triggered a full reset of the grant process, including the following key developments:

1. All Preliminary Awards Rescinded

The State of Colorado must now reopen the subgrantee selection process. This includes rescinding all preliminary awards, including the one Trailblazer Broadband had been conditionally approved for earlier this year. All potential applicants are watching for updated guidance from the Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) regarding next steps and location eligibility.

2. Technology Neutrality Introduced

BEAD funding will no longer prioritize fiber-optic networks. Instead, any broadband technology capable of delivering the FCC-mandated minimum speeds may be selected, including fixed wireless and hybrid systems.

While these technologies can offer faster deployment and lower up-front costs, they can be more expensive to scale over time and may face challenges in areas like the Estes Valley, where terrain, vegetation, and seasonal weather impact signal quality and network reliability. Fiber infrastructure, while more costly to build initially, remains the most consistent and scalable solution over time.

3. New Provider Challenge Process

Under the updated rules, broadband providers across the state will be allowed to resubmit data showing existing service coverage that meets the 100/30 standard. If accepted, these coverage claims may render certain locations ineligible for BEAD funding—even if residents in those areas still experience inconsistent service or lack reliable connectivity.

What This Means for Trailblazer & Estes Valley

These changes will likely reduce the number of areas eligible for support in our mountain community, where broadband construction is inherently more expensive. It also means cost, not durability or long-term performance, will likely guide funding decisions.

Trailblazer Broadband remains committed to advocating for solutions that meet our community’s needs—not just today, but well into the future. We will continue to work with the CBO and other partners to explore all available opportunities for support and will keep our community informed as more information becomes available.

Original Post – June 17, 2025

As many of you know, Trailblazer Broadband has already invested nearly $30 million to bring high-speed fiber internet to our community. We’re proud to be among the many “shovel-ready” broadband projects nationwide—fully engineered, permitted, and ready to build the final miles.

Unfortunately, recent federal developments have added a new layer of uncertainty. On June 6, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced sweeping changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Among the most impactful:

  • States must now conduct at least one more competitive funding round—even if they’ve already selected awardees.
  • The former preference for fiber-optic technology has been removed. Now, any solution that meets minimum speed and latency requirements is considered a “priority” project.
  • States will be required to re-submit their BEAD proposals, with a new emphasis on selecting the lowest cost-per-premise

While Colorado has been proactive—submitting letters to Secretary Lutnick and continuing to advocate for BEAD deployment—we don’t yet know how these new federal mandates will affect preliminary awards like ours. At a minimum, we anticipate that the application process will be extended and that previously planned allocations may be reevaluated under this new framework.

We’re sympathetic to the growing frustration these delays and changes create—not just for communities still waiting for service, but for small local teams like ours who are balancing day-to-day operations and navigating the increasing complexity of federal grant compliance. These changes could mean more competition for limited dollars and a higher cost-efficiency bar to clear—despite the fact that we’re ready to build today.

Still, we remain committed to seeing this through. Trailblazer Broadband will continue advocating for Estes Park, Glen Haven, Allenspark, and the entire Estes Valley—because reliable, high-speed internet isn’t a luxury. It’s fast becoming a utility, and a necessity.

We’ll keep you posted as we learn more from the State of Colorado in the coming weeks. In the meantime, thank you—as always—for your patience and support.

Trailblazer Broadband Builds Redundant Denver Uplink

Trailblazer Broadband is the first internet service provider in Estes Park to build a redundant 100 gigabit per second uplink to Denver. Since late September, Trailblazer Broadband customers may have noticed their internet connection has been enhanced as a result of this improved routing.

Not all broadband connections are created equal. Trailblazer Broadband is building the only true 1 GIG broadband service in Estes Park which provides high speed, reliable internet service over fiber optic lines. Delivering state-of-the-art broadband also requires a great connection to the rest of the world. For Estes Park internet users, the best route to the internet is through Denver, which is a key carrier hub for almost all major broadband providers.

Internet routing can be compared to taking a road trip in a car. Some highways have faster speed limits than others and some routes require fewer miles to reach your destination. When data is sent and received on the internet, the route can make a huge difference in the response times and download speeds that users experience when connecting to the variety of websites and services on the internet.

Sending Trailblazer’s internet traffic through Denver opens up the most optimal routing paths to almost any destination on the internet. For even greater reliability, Trailblazer Broadband currently utilizes multiple diverse fiber paths out of Estes Park. If one fiber path is compromised, another one is instantly and automatically used to reroute internet traffic.

Creating the 100 Gbps broadband link to Denver was a collaborative effort that involved help from the neighboring communities of Loveland and Fort Collins. Over the last several years Estes Park, Loveland, & Fort Collins worked together to form an Inter-Governmental Agreement, or IGA, that enabled all three communities to create a redundant fiber ring in northern Colorado. Because of this collaboration, Fort Collins was able to execute a long term lease of CDOT dark fiber between Fort Collins and Denver and utilize the fiber to establish a 100 Gbps circuit to Estes Park. The circuit capacity can be increased as necessary to keep up with demand.

Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. For more information, contact Trailblazer Customer Experience Manager Kim Smith at ksmith@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/.

Town Considers Launching New Broadband Service

Town considers launching new broadband service across Light & Power service area

Town Board to review business plan and vote on utility establishment March 12

The Town Board will review the details of a business plan and consider the establishment of a new broadband (high-speed internet) service during its regular meeting March 12 at 7 p.m. in the Town Board Room at Town Hall, 170 MacGregor Ave. Community members and other stakeholders are encouraged to attend and comment. Meeting materials will be posted at www.estes.org/boardsandmeetings by Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m. The business plan is available at www.estes.org/broadband. Written comments may be provided in advance to the Town Clerk’s office, Room 130 of Town Hall, or emailed to townclerk@estes.org. The meeting will be streamed live and recorded for viewing later via www.estes.org/videos.

The broadband business plan presentation will include a historical recap of the Town’s research since Estes Park’s electorate voted to reclaim local authority to provide advanced telecommunications services in 2015 with a 92 percent majority. Town Administrator Frank Lancaster commented, “Staff have been diligently working to gather the information needed for the board to make a major business decision on a project that our customers have consistently identified as a high priority.”

Private companies are unlikely to build a modern fiber to the premise system in Estes Park and the surrounding area due to a low return on a large investment to build in a rural area with extreme terrain and dispersed customer base. The Town’s commissioned technical assistance reports and business proforma identified the only feasible option is for the community to invest in itself by establishing a municipally-owned service. The business plan proposes adding broadband as a service within the Light & Power Division, offering 1-Gigabit service (1000 megabits), which is significantly faster than most residents and businesses have across the nation. In the Estes Valley, many residents currently receive 2- to 60-megabit service, with a few paying for 100-megabit service or greater. The infrastructure would also provide redundancy for emergency communications in the Estes Valley.

At the March 12 meeting, staff will seek guidance from the Town Board on the next step — whether to amend the municipal code to add broadband as a service of the Town’s Utilities Department. If the board votes to proceed, it will next consider a funding proposal for the startup phase of the service, borrowing from the fund balance of the Light & Power utility, at its March 26 meeting. The initial startup phase will take advantage of Light and Power’s smart grid fiber optics, which already exists in specific neighborhoods and is currently under construction in others (Raven Circle and Carriage Hills).

In the fall, the board would vote to issue up to $37 million in bonds to fund the four-year buildout of the utility and associated operations — across the entire Light & Power service area in Estes Park, Glen Haven, Allenspark and portions of the U.S. 34 and U.S. 36 corridors to the east. To ensure the business is funding itself, the order of service additions will be based on the construction cost and revenue potential. If the board votes to proceed, a complete construction and rollout schedule would be developed during the startup phase.

Lancaster summarized, “If the Town Board votes to establish this service, staff will quickly begin communicating to our customer base so they know what to expect, and when.”

For additional information, please call 970-577-3588 or visit the project website at www.estes.org/broadband.