Here’s what we know about new NTIA chief Arielle Roth

There’s a new sheriff in town for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Arielle Roth, policy director of telecommunications on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, was nominated by President Donald Trump to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Roth, who works for committee chair Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), was widely rumored to be Trump’s pick for new NTIA administrator. If confirmed by Congress, she will succeed Alan Davidson, who stepped down on January 20. What can we expect from Roth in terms of BEAD? Like Chairman Cruz, she’s no fan of the program’s fiber broadband preference and prefers a more technology-neutral approach. Speaking at a Federalist Society event in June, Roth argued NTIA has “imposed extreme tech bias in favor of fiber.”