A new presidential administration will take office in January 2025, ushering in a new era at the Federal Communications Commission. Thanks to Project 2025, we have a unique ability to predict what this will mean for broadband regulation.

Project 2025’s 900-page book—the Mandate for Leadership—is a “menu of policy suggestions” from and for American conservative leaders  produced by a group of conservative organizations and spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank credited with guiding some of the Reagan administration’s policy agenda. The BBC described the Mandate for Leadership as a conservative policy “wish list."  A leader with Project 20205 has expressed optimism about working with this incoming administration.

The FCC chapter of the Mandate for Leadership, penned by conservative FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, covers goals for broadband under a new administration. If Trump enacts these regulatory suggestions, Project 2025 will usher in a new era of wild West-style deregulation for broadband. The prescriptions for broadband policy follow two major themes: cut down on regulation, and spend fewer taxpayer dollars.

Top-to-Bottom Deregulation

Deregulation is a major theme of the broadband policy directives included in Mandate for Leadership. Regulation, according to the Mandate for Leadership, blocks the “vital” competition that increases connectivity (p. 857). Mandate for Leadership recommends that the next Republican administration begin a “serious top-to-bottom review of [FCC] regulations” and rescind those the administration deem “overly cumbersome” (p. 857).

Deregulation could be good for incumbent ISPs, referred to by some scholars as the ‘broadband cartel.’ With the broadband industry already functioning as an oligopoly, deregulation opens the door to potential mergers, further concentrating power in the hands of just a few providers. Under past conservative FCC leadership, we have seen large mergers among mobile broadband providers like Sprint and T-Mobile, a merger the FCC approved along party line.

Another big winner of the deregulation drive is non-legacy providers, specifically Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. Mandate for Leadership asserts that the introduction of these new providers demonstrates vast technological change requiring the “[elimination of] many of the heavy-handed FCC regulations” of the past (p. 857). Satellite companies have been of big interest to Commissioner Carr, with him stating previously that “we should be like ‘go go go — we’ve got your back” to satellite companies.

Commissioner Carr, tapped by President-elect Trump to be the next Chairmen of the FCC, has developed an increasingly close relationship with Elon Musk. Starlink and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been described by Axios as the “most powerful (unelected) man ever," and is poised to play a major role in several facets of the Trump administration. Carr has defended Musk in FCC proceedings in the past, calling a filing against Musk by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America the “latest effort to weaponize the government against Elon Musk.” The two positively engaged on Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) over their agreement that several Big Tech companies are participating in a ‘censorship cartel.’ We can expect to see their close relationship and policy agreement to continue to impact regulation, especially as it may concern opening further doors for Starlink.

Restructure – or Eliminate – Funding Programs

Project 2025’s recommendation for a comprehensive review is not limited to structural regulations: it also applies to broadband programs. The primary focus of this review is “saving taxpayer money” (p. 856). Mandate for Leadership characterizes current broadband programs as plagued by inefficiency, with the lack of a national broadband strategy creating redundancies and “contributing to the waste of limited taxpayer dollars” (p. 856). The review would combat this by attempting to eliminate programs deemed as duplicate and increasing the efficiency of existing programs, specifically calling for a review of the programs of the Universal Service Fund (USF) (p. 856).

The Mandate for Leadership includes an additional controversial recommendation about the USF: that unspecified “Big Tech” corporations should be contributing into the fund (p. 850). The USF is currently funded by a fee collected from consumers on long-distance phone calls. Commissioner Carr contends that since Big Tech companies are benefiting from USF programs and increased connectivity, they should be included in the contribution base for USF. Presumably, an increase in the number of corporations funding USF would reduce the fee long distance customers are currently paying. This position is “not unanimous” among conservatives, as the author acknowledges (p. 850). However, the report asserts that whether or not the new Administration follows this particular guideline, the structure of USF funding should be changed for the purpose of “right-sizing the federal government’s existing broadband initiatives” (p. 850). ‘Right-sizing’ definitionally will mean a reduction in spending.

Rural Connectivity

Commissioner Carr believes that the focus of FCC and government efforts should be solely on connecting the unconnected, and particularly rural communities. To prevent overbuilding and redundancy, programs should be aimed at “communities without adequate Internet infrastructure instead of to places that already enjoy broadband connectivity” (p. 855-856). Carr alleges in the Mandate for Leadership that the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) is funding overbuilding in served areas, wasting taxpayer money. The ARPA included over $25 billion in funding eligible for broadband. As alleged by Project 2025:

Commissioner Carr does not believe the government should engage in spending other than building networks in areas where no networks currently exist. This position may impact existing programs like Lifeline, which support affordability. Additionally, it may indicate that Trump’s FCC is unlikely to initiate any new programs expanding affordability.

Going Forward

This new wild West poses problems for broadband. In an increasingly connected world, solving the digital divide is more important than ever. But in these new Trump years, we can expect deregulation that will negatively impact connectivity. In areas with fewer providers, consumers get slower Internet.

Specifically at the FCC, we can expect to see far fewer regulatory actions and fewer checks on big corporations. The new FCC seems focused on the idea that deregulation will increase competition and technological innovation. We can look to other industries, like electricity, which shares similarities to broadband. Conservatives pushed for industry deregulation, which caused consumers to bear price increases, decreased reliability of service, and increased market volatility.

Over time, we will observe the impacts of a more deregulated industry and start to get a real look at the consequences on connectivity.

Abby Simmerman is a doctoral student in the Bellisario College of Communication at Penn State University. Her research focuses on critical political economy and media policy.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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