Photo Credit: Getty Images The US Congress first set aside $42.45bn for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program in November 2021, with the legislature stating a clear preference that the program prioritise fiber deployment. Then came five-and-a-half years of glacial bureaucracy, several years of concerted lobbying from every trade association under the sun, one change of executive power, and millions of dollars in campaign donations from the world’s richest human being.