Christopher Mitchell

Former Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program Director Evan Feinman talks about the turmoil brewing inside the BEAD program. What’s really behind the push for more satellite connectivity, the threat of sidelining state-led fiber projects, and the political forces stalling progress? Are we about to squander a once-in-a-generation opportunity?

With the new administration taking over federal programs, some companies and organizations are trying to change the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to focus on technologies that are cheaper to build initially but may charge more to residents while delivering much less. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is running the $42.5 BEAD program to improve rural Internet access and, as Congress required, has prioritized fiber optic network investments.

Last Friday was a major milestone in the process of moving $42.5 billion from the federal government to states to distribute mostly to rural areas to build new, modern Internet access networks. January 13th marked the deadline for error corrections (called challenges) to the official national map that will be used to determine how much each state will get.