Commerce Dept. revamping broadband program after ‘woke’ Biden-era mandates

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday announced that his department is “ripping out” the “pointless requirements” inserted by former President Joe Biden into a major broadband program that is set to deliver high-speed internet to millions of Americans.

Lutnick said the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment, or BEAD, program, which was part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, was needlessly hampered by the Biden administration’s “woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations.”

“The Department is ripping out the Biden Administration’s pointless requirements,” Lutnick said in a press release Wednesday. “It is revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach that is rigorously driven by outcomes, so states can provide internet access for the lowest cost.

“Additionally, the Department is exploring ways to cut government red tape that slows down infrastructure construction. We will work with states and territories to quickly get rid of the delays and the waste. Thereafter we will move quickly to implementation in order to get households connected.”

Some broadband analysts have shared Lutnick’s frustration with the requirements in BEAD, which has been in planning and contracting for three years. Michael Santorelli, a director at the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School, said there are numerous things that the Trump administration could do to accelerate deployment, including providing states clearer guidance and removing requirements related to worker wages, climate resistance and experimentation with business models.

But Drew Garner, director of policy engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, told StateScoop that if Donald Trump’s Commerce Department moves forward with changes, it could further delay the deployment of broadband internet by a year or more because states will be required to re-run their grant programs.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the potential changes could also allow Elon Musk’s Starlink, a low-earth orbit satellite service, a much larger piece of the initiative. BEAD currently prioritizes the installation of fiber-optic cable, widely considered the gold standard for internet connectivity, and only allows the use of other technologies when regions face exceptional challenges. Lutnick’s plan for a technology-neutral BEAD program is expected to grow the number of satellite internet projects and reduce the number of fiber deployments.

“This to us is penny wise, pound foolish, because while it may be cheaper up front for BEAD to go with the less expensive option now, it’s much more expensive to the consumer,” Garner said. “And over time, due to the repeated investments and the need to maintain satellites, it does end up potentially costing just as much or more than fiber. And it provides worse service.”

The Commonwealth of Virginia’s technology bureau last year added Starlink to the menu of telecommunications services it offers state agencies and local governments. State Chief Information Officer Robert Osmond told StateScoop it’s an excellent alternative for “rocky areas” or other regions with difficult terrain that make digging prohibitively expensive.

“We just think it’s tragic to take this genuinely historic opportunity to bring affordable, reliable high-speed internet to places that have probably never had it before, to take that opportunity away from these 24 million Americans and instead give them some half-measure,” Garner continued.

At least three states — Louisiana, Nevada and Delaware — completed their BEAD planning and were only waiting for federal approval to begin digging. Louisiana plans to deploy fiber to 95% of the state, while Nevada plans to use fiber for 80%, with the remainder to be covered by satellite and cable services.

Delaware plans 100% fiber coverage. Former Delaware Gov. John Carney in 2023 made a celebratory announcement in anticipation of being the first state to make high-speed internet service universally accessible, pointing both to future BEAD projects and past deployments funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.

Garner said he worries that opting for cheaper technologies, rather than investing in a reliable, long-life technology like fiber, will lead BEAD down the same path as the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a program created by the Federal Communications Commission during the first Trump administration. An analysis published last month by the The Benton Institute shows that roughly one-third of the $9.2 billion in RDOF awards is now in default, and 1.9 million locations once set to receive internet service will not receive service.