The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program aims to help everyone in America get affordable, reliable high-speed internet by funding infrastructure deployment and adoption programs. A requirement of the BEAD program is for Pennsylvania to conduct a map challenge. This map challenge will determine which Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) and Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) will be eligible to be served by BEAD funded networks. Any changes made to Pennsylvania’s Broadband Map will be based on evidence submitted during the challenge process by qualified participants.
Pennsylvania will be administering its BEAD Challenge starting in spring 2024. The final map will determine how we will use the $1.16 billion in BEAD program funding to close the digital divide in the Commonwealth.
A CostQuest License is not required to file challenges directly through the challenge portal. However, a license from CostQuest will simplify the submission of bulk challenges, especially those with large numbers of locations.
There are two tiers of licenses relevant to the BEAD Program:
Below are some additional resources to help you with CostQuest licensing.
You can check out the following webinars to learn more about the BEAD Challenge Process.
The below video will provide an overview of the Pennsylvania BEAD Challenge and the process eligible entities must take to submit challenges to the map. You may also reference the PA BEAD Challenge Process PowerPoint
The BEAD Challenge Resource Guide includes a detailed overview on how to submit challenges in the BEAD Challenge Process. The following public data documents identify served, unserved, underserved and funded locations of the Commonwealth, as well as Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs). The Served, Unserved, and Underserved data is from Version 3.2 of National Broadband Map, Data as of June 30, 2023 – updated March 5, 2024. The funded BSL data is dated February 20, 2024. A data dictionary is also provided to explain the files in the enforceable funding commitment file. This data will require users to have GIS software and a broadband serviceable location fabric license to match to the National Broadband Fabric. Please see the CostQuest License section above regarding fabric licensing.
NOTE: Some files may have a lag in downloading speed given their document size.
