BEAD Should Continue to Prioritize Fiber Internet Network Investments

With the new administration taking over federal programs, some companies and organizations are trying to change the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to focus on technologies that are cheaper to build initially but may charge more to residents while delivering much less. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is running the $42.5 BEAD program to improve rural Internet access and, as Congress required, has prioritized fiber optic network investments. Congress deliberately chose to prioritize fiber optic technology because of past failures in which the federal government made repeated investments into obsolete technologies. Congress was wise to require NTIA to focus on fiber first. States will make different decisions about when to allow other technologies to bid when fiber is too expensive, but NTIA and the federal government should keep this part of BEAD the way it was designed.