Louisiana broadband chief shares ‘Gumbo Path’ lessons with county officials

Louisiana has driven broadband coverage to 94% of the state from 60% in five years and expects to eliminate its digital divide by 2028 — years ahead of the federal schedule — the state’s broadband director told county officials Friday.

Veneeth Iyengar, executive director of ConnectLA, spoke during the Telecommunications and Technology Policy Steering Committee, interviewed by Chair Shinica Thomas, a Wake County, N.C., commissioner.

Iyengar attributed the state’s speed to a small mission-driven team and direct access to the governor, along with the state’s Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) grant program. ConnectLA operates with just four people and is legislatively capped, he said, but the office removed state procurement from its grant process and hires staff “significantly smarter, much more nimble, much more entrepreneurial than I am,” Iyengar noted. Broadband is “an A-plus-plus priority” for Gov. Jeff Landry, who Iyengar said he meets or speaks with most weeks. The governor’s guiding directive: “Focus on outcomes, not activities.”

Louisiana received $1.35 billion through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. A competitive bidding process drove estimated construction costs down to roughly $400 million, with about 86% of locations slated for fiber and the remainder covered by fixed wireless and satellite. That efficiency leaves the state with close to $900 million in unspent BEAD funds — money Iyengar wants to direct toward next-generation 911, infrastructure resilience, workforce development and a first-in-the-nation underground utility map. But federal guidance on using excess funds has yet to arrive.

Iyengar urged counties to press for speed, warning that rising equipment costs and fiber scarcity threaten timelines. Data center construction — including major Amazon, Meta and Anthropic-affiliated projects in Louisiana — competes with small internet service providers for the same fiber and skilled labor. If permitting stalls, he cautioned, providers may default and hand back locations, forcing expensive rebids.

Resilience is central to Louisiana’s approach. After Category 4 Hurricane Ida crippled the state’s telecommunications, ConnectLA is burying roughly 90% of new infrastructure. That raises a problem that counties everywhere will face, Iyengar said: no one knows where existing underground utilities lie. A dispute over broken infrastructure has already halted BEAD work in a few parishes, which is why the state is pursuing the utility-mapping effort.

Iyengar said he now frames affordability as “consumer value,” arguing federal policymakers respond better to language about skills and earnings than subsidies. Competition, he noted, has already pushed some household bills to roughly $50 a month from around $130.

Iyengar offered counties a checklist for progress: get to know your state broadband director, learn exactly which areas are served and by which federal program, over-communicate timelines to constituents and hold providers accountable for their own outreach. “I don't work for an ISP. I work for the people of Louisiana,” he said, adding that ISPs too often push stakeholder engagement onto local officials.

Iyengar said he welcomes working himself out of a job as the office’s role shifts from policy to compliance — a transition, he said, that one or two staffers could manage.