In a statement issued March 5, newly appointed United States Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said his department has begun a “rigorous review” of the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, and said one result will be a “tech-neutral approach.”
Lutnick’s written statement took a political tone from the outset, commenting in the first paragraph that approximately four years after Congress enacted BEAD, “because of the prior administration’s woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations, the program has not connected a single person to the internet and is in dire need of a readjustment.”
Language in BEAD includes a preference for broadband links that are connected via fiber-optic technology, which we at Cabling Installation & Maintenance believe to be what Secretary Lutnick refers to when citing “favoritism towards certain technologies.” As we have reported in the past, Senator Ted Cruz called out previous administrators at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration over the program’s preference toward fiber. Former Cruz senatorial staff member Arielle Roth recently was nominated NTIA administrator.
Upon the approval of Lutnick’s nomination as Commerce Secretary, Fiber Broadband Association chief executive officer Gary Bolton said Lutnick’s “leadership comes at a pivotal moment as the $42.45-billion BEAD program moves forward from planning to execution, expanding high-speed broadband access to unserved and underserved communities across the country. Reliable, future-proof broadband is the backbone of America’s digital economy … We look forward to working with Secretary Lutnick and the Commerce Department to ensure BEAD funding is deployed efficiently and effectively as we look to close the digital divide and deliver lasting benefits to communities nationwide.”
Telecommunications Industry Association chief executive officer Dave Stehlin said immediately following Lutnick’s swearing in, “TIA is unique as we manage the development of many critical infrastructure technical and process improvement standards for fiber, wireless and satellite networks … As the Department of Commerce examines its stewardship of the BEAD program, it is important that these funds are used efficiently and that deployment begins expeditiously … We agree with your comments at your nomination hearing that the new administration should review and streamline existing rules to ensure that taxpayer funds are utilized consistent with Congress’s intent to connect Americans to broadband.”
Lutnick’s March 5 statement continued, “The Commerce Department has launched a rigorous review of the BEAD program. The Department is ripping out the Biden Administration’s pointless requirements. It is revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach that is rigorously driven by outcomes, so states can provide internet access for the lowest cost. Additionally, the Department is exploring ways to cut government red tape that slows down infrastructure construction. We will work with states and territories to quickly get rid of the delays and the waste. Thereafter we will move quickly to implementation in order to get households connected.
“Under the revamped BEAD program, all Americans will receive the benefit of the bargain that Congress intended. We’re going to deliver high-speed internet access, and we will do it efficiently and effectively at the lowest cost to taxpayers.”
