Yesterday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) heard a wide range of views on how to use unspent Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds.
During a two-hour “virtual listening session,” NTIA heard from about 50 speakers suggesting everything from states having broad spending discretion to returning $21 billion of the BEAD funds to the U.S. Treasury. The agency plans to use feedback from the online session to craft a formal policy preceding later this year.
NTIA has awarded most of the BEAD money it plans to send to states and territories to fund last-mile broadband infrastructure projects. Due to BEAD Program reforms the Trump Administration set in June 2025, only half of the $42 billion allocated by Congress will go to those projects. How the government will distribute the other half remains an open question.
“NTIA has a responsibility to be a good steward of this money, a responsibility we take very seriously. It’s critical that plans to use BEAD savings produce real, measurable value, and don’t invite waste, fraud and abuse,” said NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth to open the session.
Each speaker at the session had two minutes to present their views. Within a few minutes of the opening, there were 900 individuals on the call and 1,300 registered to participate. The response was heavy enough for NTIA to schedule a second session for 2 p.m. on February 18. NTIA also encouraged all of those who are unable to get a speaking spot to send writing feedback to broadbandgrants@ntia.gov.
In the legislation that created BEAD — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — Congress specified several authorized uses for nondeployment funds, such as broadband service affordability programs and to aid anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries and public safety agencies. Many speakers also favored programs to provide laptop computers and other devices to low-income households.
“We are encouraged by [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnik’s remarks [on Feb 10], in which he committed to making BEAD nondeployment funds available in alignment with the statute,” said Drew Garner speaking on behalf of Benton Institute for Broadband and Society.
“We’re encouraged because statute clearly supports states’ ability to use BEAD to promote broadband affordability, to promote broadband adoption, and also give significant discretion to states.”
Other speakers said funds should go toward filling holes in U.S. communications infrastructure that will exist even after completing BEAD last-mile projects. “NTIA should explicitly allow states to use a capped portion of remaining BEAD funds to eliminate persistent rural mobile dead zones,” said Christian Hoefly, an attorney for T-Mobile.
“This is not an expansion of BEAD. It is finishing the job for the same rural communities that BEAD was designed to serve.”
Sachin Gupta of rural broadband provider Central Rural Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma pointed to a lack of rural access to middle-mile coverage and internet exchange points (IXPs). “What that means is that today, if I’m talking in Oklahoma to somebody in the next building, that data still needs to go to Dallas before it comes back, because Oklahoma does not have an IXP… That is what I suggest for the nondeployment funds,” he said.
“Rural traffic today often travels hundreds of miles before it exchanges, creating latency, single points of failure, and higher costs. A rural IXP localizes traffic, shortens routing paths, and creates redundant interconnection options,” said Lance Browder, senior broadband officer for the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.
Interested parties can register for the second NTIA BEAD webinar — on February 18 — via this link.
