Jake Neenan

An unexpected federal review is still holding up Louisiana’s $1.3 billion in federal broadband funding, according to one of the state’s broadband officers. “The review is still ongoing,” said Thomas Tyler, deputy director of the state’s broadband office. Louisiana, along with Delaware and Nevada, received approval on their spending plans for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program in the waning days of the Biden administration. That approval came from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce Department agency handling BEAD. 

Seven planned gatherings of federal broadband grant recipients have been cancelled, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The agency manages several ongoing broadband grant programs totalling billions of dollars, including the Middle Mile program, Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, multiple digital equity programs, and others. The workshops were intended to help grant recipients navigate the administrative process and ensure builds were successful.

The incoming Trump administration should not pause the government’s $42.5 billion effort to end the digital divide, said Brandy Reitter, head of Colorado’s broadband office. There’s been speculation the Trump administration might alter some Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) rules the GOP has been strongly critical of, from its fiber preference to its low-cost service requirement for low-income households served on subsidized infrastructure.

The Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) kicked off with a reverse auction in October 2020 and has been shrinking ever since, both from big winners not passing more stringent FCC review and a trickle of subsequent defaults. 2024 saw more tumult. While the agency did not grant amnesty to providers looking to opt out as costs rose, it did take steps to ease financing requirements.

Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) said he hoped the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction off spectrum could be restored in a budget reconciliation bill in 2025. Latta chairs the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, which deals with telecommunications issues. It’s part of the House Commerce Committee, which Rep Latta said is “going to play a large part in” a reconciliation bill. Budget reconciliations allow lawmakers to bypass the Senate’s filibuster and move spending bills with a bare majority.

AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell last recently reiterated its argument to the Supreme Court that telecommunications companies should not be hit with tougher fines for fraudulent reimbursement requests to a major broadband subsidy program. The company is seeking to overturn a Seventh Circuit ruling that found the False Claims Act applies to reimbursements from the E-Rate program, a broadband subsidy for schools and libraries funded by the $8-billion-per-year Universal Service Fund.

Some see Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, the agency’s senior Republican, as the most likely candidate for chairman of the agency under a second Trump presidency. What would he do if Trump won, and if Carr were selected for the job? Carr actually outlined his priorities for broadband and telecommunications policy in a chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy agenda.

The Federal Communications Commission’s top Republican has opposed expanding the agency’s broadband subsidy for schools and libraries. He said the July ruling that found the fund unconstitutional could be an additional reason to proceed with caution.

Broadband providers want to avoid net neutrality because it comes with more expansive federal oversight. But one trade group for Internet Service Providers and state officials told judges that it comes with at least one big benefit: backup from the government in negotiations with utility pole owners. The Federal Communications Commission is currently trying to keep alive its net neutrality rules, which would reclassify broadband as a telecom service subject to common carrier regulations. Broadband trade associations challenging the move in court convinced a panel of the U.S.

Lawmakers working to revamp an $8 billion-per-year broadband subsidy still haven’t come to an agreement, said Rep Bob Latta (R-OH). The Fifth Circuit ruled in July 2024 that the fund in its current state is unconstitutional, which the government intends to appeal. The Capitol Hill group includes members of both parties and chambers of Congress.