en.Wedoany.com Reported - Conexon Connect recently stated in multiple documents filed with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that its network construction is expected to slow due to "severe constraints" in domestic fiber supply and fluctuations in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This situation is anticipated to delay Conexon's deployment at least until 2027.
Conexon submitted a series of updates to the FCC at the end of June, included in its compliance gap reports for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) project construction. Under RDOF requirements, service providers that fail to meet interim construction milestones must submit such reports quarterly. Conexon's updates cover RDOF construction in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.
These reports show that Conexon has delayed RDOF construction in states where its award areas overlap with BEAD funding application areas. For example, in its Louisiana filing, the company explained that because RDOF and BEAD award areas are inseparable, with BEAD locations often across the street from its RDOF-funded sites, it postponed further RDOF deployment in the state until the state broadband office makes a final decision on BEAD-related matters. Similar views were expressed in filings for Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri.
Conexon also noted in its filings that the restructuring of the BEAD program last year further delayed the construction timeline. The company added that it had hoped to continue construction during the BEAD award process, but the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) made it clear that it would not fund such pre-award construction with BEAD funds. However, Conexon stated that in states where BEAD contracts have been finalized, it has resumed some deployment activities. For instance, in Louisiana, the company has installed 934 miles of fiber and related infrastructure so far this year, extending service coverage to 6,062 incremental RDOF locations.
Another major issue affecting Conexon's ongoing construction plans is fiber availability. In multiple FCC filings, Conexon stated that due to unprecedented demand for fiber across multiple U.S. industries, particularly in the hyperscale and data center infrastructure sectors, domestic fiber supply has become severely constrained, adversely impacting the company's construction. The company added that its contracts have consequently been canceled. Conexon recently learned from its primary fiber optic cable supplier that, for the foreseeable future, the supplier cannot reliably obtain the domestic fiber needed to manufacture cables compliant with the BEAD program's "Build America, Buy America" (BABA) requirements, and therefore cannot fulfill its previous contractual commitments to the company.
Conexon did not name the supplier in its filings but has previously listed CommScope as a primary supplier. According to a report by industry media Light Reading in March of this year, other internet service providers have also separately cited CommScope for canceling BEAD contracts. These cancellations occurred after Corning—which signed a $6 billion hyperscale contract with Meta in January—stopped selling glass to CommScope. Conexon noted in its Arizona report that while Conexon Connect is not required to meet BABA procurement requirements for RDOF construction, these supply constraints affect not only the domestic fiber needed for the BEAD program; the supply of non-BABA cables has also tightened, with delivery times recently increasing by over 40%.
Conexon stated that while it remains "fully committed" to "remedying existing RDOF compliance gaps" and "fulfilling all RDOF construction obligations" in the affected states, the supply chain situation will further delay this process. In multiple filings, the company declared that these supply chain and BABA issues are expected to slow deployment at least until 2027.
