The Biden administration's Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is ready to start rolling out as we head into 2025. But the fate of the program under new federal leadership is unclear.
Heading into 2025, a key issue to watch is what comes of the federal government's $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Now ready for its close-up, the program faces an uncertain future under the incoming Trump administration.
As of November 2024, every state and territory in the US has had its BEAD initial proposal – a detailed plan explaining how the funds will be used – approved by the Biden administration's NTIA. That includes Texas, the largest recipient of BEAD dollars at $3.3 billion, which was the final state to see its initial proposal approved. Several states and territories are now in the midst of next steps, including conducting challenge processes and vetting ISPs, according to a dashboard set up by the NTIA.
Moreover, Louisiana was first to announce BEAD award recipients, in November, including T-Mobile, as part of a consortium, as well as AT&T, Conexon and others. Louisiana has awarded over 95% of its BEAD funds for fiber projects. Earlier this month, Delaware tapped Comcast and Verizon for its own BEAD program.
The move to get BEAD dollars out the door follows roughly three years of work at the federal, state and local levels to implement the program, which was funded in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). BEAD, as depicted by federal officials, is designed to "finish the job" of closing the country's digital divide. In the meantime, states and territories have been deploying broadband with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan and the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), for example.
In the past year, in addition to approving BEAD initial proposals for all states and territories, the NTIA also issued further guidance on some key industry matters. That includes clarifying how and where states can use fixed wireless and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite solutions, versus fiber-to-the-home.
Speaking on a recent webinar hosted by the World Broadband Association, Jim Stritzinger, South Carolina's broadband director, commended the NTIA's flexibility as it pertains to technology use.
"We're working within a common federal framework, but we've been extended the ability to be as flexible as we need to be to solve our state's problems," said Stritzinger. "We're doing tons of fiber, but we feel like we have the flexibility from a technical perspective to do what we need to do." South Carolina is currently pre-qualifying applicants and expects to announce sub-grantees in February, he said.
The NTIA this year also amended the "Buy America" rules for BEAD products to respond to industry concerns about available supply while still ramping up domestic manufacturing. Thus far, 25 companies have self-certified that their products are compliant with those domestic manufacturing rules and are ready to support BEAD-funded projects.
New year, new BEAD?
But the Biden administration that did all the work to create the BEAD grant program will not be the one to implement it. NTIA Chief Alan Davidson has already announced plans to step down on January 20, 2025. And questions remain as to whether the incoming Trump administration will let BEAD proceed as planned or if major changes are in store.
Some Republicans are signaling changes: In a recent letter sent by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to NTIA's Davidson, Cruz said "substantial changes are on the horizon for this program," referring to BEAD, adding that "states will no longer be subject to the unlawful and onerous bureaucratic obstacles imposed by the Biden-Harris NTIA."
Cruz, who won re-election in November, is expected to chair the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the NTIA, when Republicans officially gain the Senate majority in January. Cruz has also sent the NTIA a letter demanding a halt to the Biden administration's digital equity funding.
There is further speculation – supported by statements from Trump – that the fiber-focused BEAD program could see its dollars funneled instead to LEO satellite services, like SpaceX's Starlink.
"The most important factor in policy changes relates to the impact of [Elon] Musk on telecom policy," wrote policy analyst Blair Levin in a note for New Street Research (log-in required), following Trump's election win.
With Musk set to co-run the just-invented Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Vivek Ramaswamy, and with their intention to cut $500 billion in annual government spending, it is as yet unknown if and how the BEAD program gets swept up in those efforts. But Musk, who is the CEO of SpaceX which operates Starlink, may have the desire, and now the power, to try to prevent his broadband competitors from scooping up subsidies. Indeed, Musk could influence telecom policy overall to favor satellite broadband services.
"Musk will seek to improve Starlink's competitive position relative to other broadband service providers through changes in government policies providing subsidies to fund non-satellite deployments and low-income support, as well as through spectrum policies," said Levin in his New Street Research note following the election.
"Musk is likely to use his influence to shift the government policies that have been investing billions into wired networks in rural areas (both in BEAD and USF) to divert some (or all) of those dollars to satellite broadband," he added.
'The starting pistol has fired'
But Evan Feinman, BEAD program director at the NTIA, argues that changing or scrapping the program would be a heavy lift at this point.
"A tremendous amount of what we have done within the context of this program is written into the law. And so, you know, unless Congress sees fit to change the law ... those statutory provisions will remain," said Feinman during the recent World Broadband Association webinar.
Moreover, derailing BEAD now would mean a lot of time, and money, gone to waste: "The starting pistol has fired. There are nearly a dozen states now that are already accepting applications, which means that the private sector has now spent millions of dollars scoping, engineering, preparing and submitting applications for this program," added Feinman.
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