Commerce Department revamping broadband program after ‘woke’ Biden-era mandates

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced that his department is “ripping out” the “pointless requirements” inserted by former President Joe Biden into a major broadband program that is set to deliver high-speed internet to millions of Americans. Some broadband analysts have shared Lutnick’s frustration with the requirements in BEAD, which has been in planning and contracting for three years. Michael Santorelli, a director at the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School, said there are numerous things that the Trump administration could do to accelerate deployment, including providing states clearer guidance and removing requirements related to worker wages, climate resistance and experimentation with business models. But Drew Garner, director of policy engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, said that if Donald Trump’s Commerce Department moves forward with changes, it could further delay the deployment of broadband internet by a year or more because states will be required to re-run their grant programs. “This to us is penny wise, pound foolish, because while it may be cheaper up front for BEAD to go with the less expensive option now, it’s much more expensive to the consumer,” Garner said. “And over time, due to the repeated investments and the need to maintain satellites, it does end up potentially costing just as much or more than fiber. And it provides worse service.” Garner added, “We just think it’s tragic to take this genuinely historic opportunity to bring affordable, reliable high-speed internet to places that have probably never had it before, to take that opportunity away from these 24 million Americans and instead give them some half-measure." Garner said he worries that opting for cheaper technologies, rather than investing in a reliable, long-life technology like fiber, will lead BEAD down the same path as the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a program created by the Federal Communications Commission during the first Trump administration. An analysis published last month by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society shows that roughly one-third of the $9.2 billion in RDOF awards is now in default, and 1.9 million locations once set to receive internet service will not receive service.