10th Anniversary Event Features More than Two Dozen Broadband Offices Overseeing Nearly $30 Billion in Broadband Funding (BEAD) Disbursements
(Denver, CO, May 29, 2024) Today Mountain Connect released the agenda for its 2024 event in Denver. The leading community broadband event in the United States, Mountain Connect is also the last independently owned broadband conference in the country. The 10th anniversary event will take place August 5-7 at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel in Denver, CO.
This year’s conference theme, Beyond the Bandwidth: The Power of Broadband Revolutionizing Access, is focused on helping to ensure that Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds are used to their greatest potential. With $42.5 billion being invested in broadband deployment across the nation in the coming handful of years, Mountain Connect is committed to doing its part to ensure no one is left behind.
Mountain Connect will feature speakers from up to thirty separate State Broadband Offices who will share their state’s journey and how the nearly $30 billion that their offices are responsible will be disbursed. It will be the largest public gathering of state broadband offices since the BEAD NOFO was announced at 2022’s Mountain Connect conference.
“We have this opportunity to if not completely close it, narrow the digital divide,” says Mountain Connect CEO Jeff Gavlinski. “I’m hopeful that these state broadband offices will create equitable access for unserved and underserved communities, with a blend of fiber and wireless technologies where appropriate.”
While the BEAD program is considered “fiber first,” Mountain Connect is and always has been a truly technology agnostic conference. This year’s event will explore how wireless and satellite technologies will need to be used to reach intended high-cost and rural areas of our country.
Beyond State Broadband Offices, headlining this year’s event will be Evan Feinman, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s BEAD Director, who will keynote a session featuring a fireside chat with himself and select broadband office leaders.
“More than two years after the BEAD program was officially launched by NTIA with the release of the initial Notice of Funding Opportunity, we’re on the precipice of the subgrantee selection process starting across all the US states and territories.” said Lori Adams, Vice President of Broadband Policy & Funding Strategy for Nokia. “I am excited to discuss the next implementation phase of BEAD with NTIA’s Evan Feinman to talk about the program’s status, timelines, challenges and early success stories.”
The media is strongly encouraged to attend the August 5 pre-conference workshop “Broadband 101,” led by Dr. David Reed, Scholar in Residence, University of Colorado. The workshop will cover the basic concepts of broadband networking technology, economics, and public policy, that all industry managers, public policy and government decision makers need to know.
The public is invited to visit the Mountain Connect agenda at www.mountainconnect.org.
About Mountain Connect
The Mountain Connect Broadband Development Conference will be held August 5-7 at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel. The mission of Mountain Connect is to move U.S. communities forward by providing relevant and targeted content to help them make the most effective decisions as they build new or expand existing telecommunications infrastructure that enable the long-term vision of a community. Mountain Connect is agnostic of the technology that delivers broadband and as such, believe this provides a well-balanced foundation to make an educated and informed decision with input from industry and community leaders from across the US. Finally, we believe in looking forward and are inclusive of trending technologies that will shape our broadband future.