Trump Admin’s ‘Bargain’ BEAD: Approvals Yanked, New Rules in Play

Jessica Dine, policy analyst at New America's Open Technology Institute and Wireless Future, is quoted in a RCR Wireless article about the Trump administration's updated rules for the BEAD program.

“NTIA claims it wants to streamline the BEAD program to more effectively close the digital divide. But the new guidance released today creates a confusing, last-minute mess of changes that don’t align with that mission. By forcing a rebidding process on an incredibly short timeline, the new policy notice is, in effect, undoing all of the states’ work on their bidding processes so far."

“Despite NTIA claiming to want a balanced mix of technologies funded by BEAD, the new guidance directs states to compare all applications on the basis of project cost alone"

“This process will likely lead to rushed outcomes that overwhelmingly favor tech with the lowest upfront costs. It largely fails to account for network quality, price for consumers, or even long-term maintenance costs.”