States to DC: "No More BEAD Delays"

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has indicated he’ll make fundamental changes to the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. These changes, such as giving a stronger preference for satellite internet, could force states to restart their broadband grant programs. On April 3, a group of 115 state legislators from 28 states sent Secretary Lutnick a letter requesting that any BEAD changes be optional rather than mandatory. Mandatory changes could upend the rules of state broadband programs, many of which are nearing completion, and delay deployment by a year or more. States, they argue, should have final say over state programs.