Clark County Support for BEAD Applicants to Bring Broadband to Unserved, Underserved, and Community Anchor Locations 

Clark County is committed to ensuring that all our residents, businesses, and visitors have access to the technology they need to thrive, including through exploring existing programs for broadband funding. We are interested in supporting potential applicants to Nevada’s statewide Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program at the County level to meet the following goals:

• Maximizing the likelihood of successful BEAD applications to reach all eligible areas in Clark County;
• Coordinate the use of BEAD and County investments to maximize reach and avoid duplication of efforts; and
• Leverage BEAD and County-level funding for greater private investment in broadband infrastructure in Clark County. 

Nevada’s BEAD Program

Nevada’s vision for BEAD is that every Nevadan has access to a high-speed internet connection that is affordable, reliable, and scalable. The BEAD program is providing $416M in funding to reach over 60,000 unserved, underserved, and community anchor institutions (CAIs) locations, such as affordable and public housing properties, throughout the state. The State will divide Nevada into Regional Project Areas (RPAs) that will contain the BEAD-eligible locations, and BEAD applicants must propose a plan to serve all eligible locations within the RPA. Within Clark County, there are 1,044 RPAs with a total of 7,883 BEAD-eligible locations. 

County-Level Preparation

In preparation for the launch of the BEAD program, the County has been working with multiple partners to ensure support for BEAD applicants and BEAD-eligible location owners.
 
The County has been working with infrastructure partners to bring middle-mile connectivity to selected County facilities, which can provide backhaul and interconnection opportunities for BEAD applicants to build into their application to reduce the cost of deployment.

Building on a 2022 RFI by the County, the County has also been meeting with Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and organizations involved in the deployment and operation of broadband infrastructure, as well as local affordable housing owners, to learn more about their perspectives and needs for support.

Based on the feedback provided through these focus groups and interviews, the County created the plan below for supporting BEAD applicants and BEAD-eligible location owners in this process. 

County-Level Support for BEAD Applicants and Next Steps 

The County is committed to supporting this program through the following possible avenues:

• Assisting BEAD-applicants with coordinating with BEAD-eligible communities and CAIs, especially with affordable housing property owners, to streamline the communication process for the application and implementation;
• Providing information on demarcation points at County facilities to assist BEAD applicants with their understanding of BEAD-eligible locations in the County and their distance to existing middle-mile infrastructure interconnection opportunities in this map
• Possibly extending middle-mile infrastructure to additional County facilities to create more opportunities for backhaul and interconnection points and further reduce cost of deployment within BEAD-eligible RPAs, which may potentially serve as part of the 25% required match contribution; and
• Exploring other needs of BEAD applicants, including, but not limited to, providing letters of support, clarifying application requirements by serving as a coordination point with the State, and assisting with applicants understanding of BEAD-eligible locations in the County. 

If your company is interested in receiving Clark County’s support for your BEAD application, please click here to submit an expression of interest through our form, and we will be in touch with you in the near future.

Upcoming Clark County Program for Non-BEAD-Eligible Locations

For companies that are not interested in applying for BEAD but are interested in connecting non-BEAD eligible locations, the County is currently exploring its own program to invest in broadband in high-need communities. 

If you are interested in receiving updates on these efforts, please click here to submit an expression of interest through our form, and we will be in touch with you in the near future.