Forget the red tape: National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) chief Arielle Roth is moving fast to make sure $42.5 billion in broadband funds actually reach the people who need them most.
While some progressive states, including California, Oregon, and Washington, have tried to impose their own net neutrality rules, Roth made clear at the Hudson Institute last month that federal funding and fast deployment come first.
“To protect the BEAD investment, we are clarifying that BEAD providers must be protected throughout their service area in a state, while the provider is still within its BEAD period of performance,” she said. “Specifically, any state receiving BEAD funds must exempt BEAD providers throughout their state footprint, from broadband-specific economic regulations, such as price regulation and net neutrality.”
Since President Trump took office, his administration has worked to remove unnecessary regulations implemented during the Biden administration that were slowing down implementation of BEAD, from union labor requirements to environmental permitting delays.
Perhaps most notably (and beneficial to the American taxpayer), the NTIA issued new directives requiring states to be more flexible in allowing alternative technologies to fiber such as satellite and fixed-wireless broadband in BEAD-funded projects. The cost savings have been immense, with Roth noting that the program is seeing at least $18 billion in savings following the rebidding of the projects.
“For years, BEAD was weighed down by red tape and extralegal conditions that slowed down states, deterred providers, and sidelined innovative technologies,” Roth said in her remarks. “Under the Trump administration’s reforms, BEAD is finally delivering.”
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With the concept of Title II (net neutrality) regulations for broadband providers nil (for now) at the FCC, many Americans probably assumed net neutrality was buried. But, like a reanimated corpse in a zombie flick, some progressive states have brought the concept back from the dead.
As the Taxpayers Protection Alliance reported, the hullabaloo about overturning net neutrality regulations was much ado about nothing. A deep dive into complaints to the FCC by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation found few instances of blocking or throttling traffic after the rules were repealed under the leadership of former chairman Ajit Pai in 2018.
While Roth will likely get pushback from the blue states that created their own net neutrality laws, even left-leaning website Ars Technica pointed out that lawsuits are unlikely since delays would harm residents on the wrong side of the digital divide.
“States could object to the NTIA decisions and sue the US government,” author Jon Brodkin wrote. “But even a successful lawsuit could take years and leave unserved homes without broadband for the foreseeable future.”
Brodkin noted that New York has in place a law requiring broadband providers to offer $15 or $20 monthly broadband plans to residents with low incomes, which will likely spell trouble for the state in its BEAD implementation. California lawmaker Tasha Boerner, D-Encinitas, drafted a similar proposal in her state, but pulled the legislation when she learned that such price regulation could prevent California from getting its $1.86 billion share of BEAD funding.
State plans for BEAD were unnecessarily delayed by the Biden administration, with only 16 proposals approved by the NTIA by August 2024, despite the plans being submitted by the end of 2023. The sticking point for most non-approvals seemed to be the unwillingness of states to regulate broadband rates. Greg Conte, director of the Texas Broadband Development Office (one of the states that battled the Biden administration NTIA), said his office didn’t feel it was their place to set rates across Texas. “We want the affordability piece too, but we wanted to do it more in an industry-focused manner rather than us telling the industry what they need to charge for their product,” he said.
As the Trump administration has acknowledged, price caps counterintuitively harm consumers by ensuring that fewer providers will bid to offer services in those areas. Net neutrality rules also don’t provide much benefit to consumers. Instead, they have historically stymied investment growth into broadband infrastructure. A continued light touch by the Roth-led NTIA will foster better implementation of the BEAD program.
Johnny Kampis is director of telecom policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.
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