- The head of the BEAD program at the NTIA said his group is proceeding as if there won’t be major changes under a Trump administration
- But with Musk’s influence over Trump, it’s unknown whether the NTIA will continue to prefer fiber broadband over other technologies, such as satellite
- The NTIA leader also talked today about alternative technologies to fiber
Evan Feinman, a director with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), this week addressed the “elephant in the room,” specifically what the new Trump administration will mean for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
Speaking during an event hosted by Tarana Wireless, Feinman said his group at NTIA is “focused on getting the job done.” And he downplayed the change in political regime.
“My job is to faithfully execute the laws as written by Congress and as directed by my leadership, and we are getting an awful lot done,” he said. “I believe that whether that leadership is the current leadership or future leadership, the goal will be to get this done for the American people.”
While there is a lot of speculation about the future of BEAD under Trump and his friend Elon Musk, Feinman pointed out that BEAD “was always a 10-year program” with the likelihood of political changes. And there were always going to be significant personnel turnovers over the course of a decade.
“Certainly, I could be shown the door, but you know, I am not planning to leave, nor any of my team,” said Feinman.
He also noted that state broadband leadership, which is doling out the money, is “relatively stable” and much of the BEAD program guidelines are written in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act statutes. “We don’t have any reason to believe at present that there’s going to be any sort of significant shift,” he said.
However, Feinman could be wrong, or he might just be putting on a brave face. Blair Levin, New Street Research’s policy analyst, has said that Musk — who owns satellite broadband service Starlink — has a strong incentive to push for changes to BEAD policy, particularly the current government preference for fiber.
Alternative technologies
In August, NTIA released preliminary or draft guidance on alternative technologies to fiber. To date, NTIA has expressed a preference for fiber broadband, and that’s followed by a cascade of other technologies in this order: licensed fixed wireless access; unlicensed fixed wireless; and low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite.
Feinman said NTIA is planning to release the final version of its alternative technologies guidance “in the coming weeks.” But it seems likely that the final guidance will look pretty much like the existing cascade of technologies because Feinman said NTIA already posted a “Selecting Tech Policy” notice in the summer, which lays out the same cascade.
During the event, Tarana CEO Basil Alwan got in a dig regarding low Earth orbit satellites. He said, “One element that I think is going to be key is time. With satellite as an example, you can cover everyone. But the question is, how long to put up more of the constellation? How many years before you can deliver the service?”
BEAD, more generally
Aside from the hot-button topics of Trump and whether BEAD will pivot to more preference for satellite, Feinman said the BEAD program is “going really well,” and NTIA is seeing very high rates of participation.
He said the early states that are doing pre-qualification of potential bidders are seeing extraordinarily high participation rates from ISPs, which are submitting very comprehensive project plans.
Feinman concluded that a lot of service providers are concerned that they don’t have the staff to deal with ongoing compliance requirements, but they may not realize that the grants, themselves, can pay for compliance as long as bidders include this cost in their bids.
Read more about how the new administration could impact BEAD and telecom policy at large here.
