How IP/MPLS Can Maximize the ROI of Your RDOF & BEAD Funding?

A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity 

For rural ISPs, the arrival of RDOF and BEAD funding represents more than just a financial boost. It’s a rare opportunity to modernize infrastructure, expand service coverage, and secure long-term market relevance. But here’s the catch: how that money is spent today will define your network’s performance and business viability for the next decade.

Too many providers are using these funds to replicate legacy designs with Layer 2 switches and basic BGP/OSPF routers. That might work in the short term—but it leaves them exposed to scalability limits, poor quality of service (QoS), and reduced valuation down the road.

In this article, we explain why IP/MPLS is the smarter investment and how it can dramatically increase the ROI of your federally funded broadband deployment.

The Funding Is Finite. Your Network Design Shouldn’t Be. 

BEAD and RDOF funding is limited. Once it’s spent, there are no second chances. That’s why building your new network on a short-sighted architecture is a high-risk move.

If you invest in Layer 2 or low-end routing platforms (like MikroTik), you’ll quickly hit limitations such as:

• Inefficient routing convergence

• Lack of traffic engineering tools

• No support for service-level QoS

• Inability to scale subscriber and service segmentation

In contrast, IP/MPLS provides a framework designed for longevity, flexibility, and growth.

What Makes IP/MPLS a High-ROI Strategy

1. Future-Proof Scalability

   IP/MPLS separates the control and forwarding planes, allowing for large-scale routing environments with clear service separation. As subscriber counts grow and more access points are deployed, the network stays stable and organized.

2. Traffic Engineering That Saves Bandwidth (and Money)

   Traditional routing floods the network with unnecessary redundancy or suboptimal paths. MPLS with RSVP-TE or Segment Routing enables fine-grained path control, ensuring efficient use of bandwidth and optimized routing decisions.

3. High-Quality Service Delivery

   MPLS enables strict QoS models that ensure latency-sensitive traffic like VoIP and video are prioritized correctly. This improves customer satisfaction, reduces churn, and allows for differentiated service tiers—which directly increase ARPU.

4. Operational Efficiency

   With better fault detection and faster failover (thanks to Fast Reroute), your NOC team spends less time firefighting and more time optimizing. That’s fewer outages, fewer truck rolls, and lower operational cost per subscriber.

5. Higher Asset Valuation

   Networks built with IP/MPLS are seen as carrier-grade by buyers and investors. If you ever plan to sell, merge, or raise capital, IP/MPLS infrastructure commands stronger valuations and reduces technical due diligence friction.

   
   

But Isn’t MPLS Expensive? Not Anymore. 

Historically, MPLS was tied to proprietary, high-cost vendor stacks. Today, disaggregated networking has changed the game.

Exaware delivers a carrier-grade IP/MPLS platform with:

• Open white-box hardware powered by Broadcom DNX silicon

• ExaNOS, a scalable and mature routing OS built for IP/MPLS

• Up to 75% TCO savings compared to legacy vendor solutions

• Full support, training, and deployment guidance tailored for lean teams

This means rural ISPs can now afford enterprise-class architecture without locking themselves into a single vendor.

Real-World Example: Scaling Without Breaking the Budget 

Consider a rural provider building out a fiber network across five counties with 10Gbps and 100Gbps interconnects. Their original plan relied on stacked Layer 2 switches with basic OSPF/BGP to save costs.

But halfway through deployment, congestion issues began appearing. They couldn’t prioritize traffic, experienced route flapping, and had no traffic engineering options.

After shifting to an IP/MPLS design using Exaware’s disaggregated solution, they achieved:

• 40% bandwidth savings via smarter pathing

• 99.999% uptime with Fast Reroute

• Modular scale to expand into 2 more counties without redesign

All while staying within their original equipment budget.

Build Once, Build Right 

RDOF and BEAD were created to close the digital divide—not to create new technical debt. Your goal shouldn’t just be coverage; it should be resilience, performance, and long-term sustainability.

With IP/MPLS, you’re not just building a network. You’re building a platform for growth, innovation, and value.

The ROI Multiplier Is in the Architecture 

Spending your funding wisely means looking beyond upfront costs and focusing on lifecycle value. IP/MPLS offers:

• A higher-performance foundation

• Lower long-term operational costs

• More service revenue potential

• Better strategic positioning for the future

Exaware makes it accessible. With our white-box routing and expert support, you don’t need a big-city budget to build a carrier-grade network.

Let’s talk about how to turn your RDOF or BEAD project into a true investment in your future.

Talk to us today at info@exaware.com and get a Free Trial License