A lagging broadband program faces more delays as Trump plans changes
Cajun Broadband was awarded $33 million under a Biden-era administration plan to bring internet to parts of rural Louisiana, where more than 400,000 households have none. Kathleen Flynn/Washington Post via Getty Images
States will have an additional 90 days to submit their final plans for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program.
This story was originally published by Stateline.
The Trump administration is extending the deadline for states to submit their final proposals for a federal broadband program, further delaying an effort that’s still largely in the planning phase after more than three years.
States will have an additional 90 days to submit their final plans for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, known as BEAD, a federal grant program meant to expand broadband access to underserved areas across the country.
The extension comes as the Trump administration prepares to make changes to the BEAD program, according to a notice from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The department is currently reviewing the program “to remove unnecessary rules and mandates, to improve efficiency, take a more technology-neutral approach, cut unnecessary red tape, and streamline deployment,” the notice said.
The $42.45 billion program, created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, began falling behind schedule in part because of inadequate federal mapping of where broadband is most needed and a lengthy challenge process to the maps. As a result, the slow-moving program has some local officials and experts questioning its efficiency.
They anticipate that federal officials might change an affordability requirement, which mandates states include a low-cost service option for low-income households, or the type of technologies given preference under the program. That shift likely would be away from fiber-optic internet toward satellites or other technology.
Earlier this month, more than 100 state lawmakers from 28 states sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick requesting that any changes to the BEAD program be optional rather than mandatory. They argued that mandatory changes could undo their BEAD plans and delay broadband deployment by a year or more.
The BEAD program originally had required states to submit their final proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration within a year of their initial plan’s approval. Citing “extraordinary circumstances,” however — the new federal review — deadlines for states’ final proposals will be moved, according to the notice.
NTIA declined to comment for this story.
All 50 states have had their initial BEAD proposals approved, unlocking a portion — often 20% — of the money the feds will provide. As of April 14, Delaware, Louisiana and Nevada are the only states to have submitted their final proposals for public comment, according to the NTIA’s BEAD Progress Dashboard.
Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas are the only states that have not made any progress beyond having their initial proposal approved, according to the tracker.
Stateline reporter Madyson Fitzgerald can be reached at mfitzgerald@stateline.org.
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