Jake Neenan

State broadband heads are focused on keeping participation in the new round of bidding mandated for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration handed down new rules on June 6 for the $42.45 billion program that require a new round of bidding for all states with a new scoring rubric, among other things. “We could have a situation where we have less competition this time than we did last time.

Sen Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said she plans to slow-walk Commerce Department nominees that oversee broadband in response to the agency rescinding approval of her state’s $416 million broadband expansion plan. The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration under Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick released its revised rules for the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

Sen Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is looking for a larger pipeline of licensed spectrum as the Senate takes up a sweeping budget bill. The bill, officially dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and narrowly passed by the House, would reinstate the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to auction off spectrum, which expired in March 2023. With the reauthorization would come a mandate to sell 600 megahertz of exclusive-use spectrum for mobile or fixed broadband, a pipeline the wireless carriers have been pushing to get included.

The Fiber Broadband Association joined those urging the Commerce Department not to make sweeping changes to the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. States “have the best understanding of their budget, the topology, their climate, unique challenges, and the families and communities that they seek to serve,” the group wrote in a Friday letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “There is no group better qualified and accountable to make the best decisions on which technology should be used to serve each broadband serviceable location in their state.”

Oklahoma’s broadband director is, like many of his counterparts, looking for flexibility from the Trump administration as his office administers its slice of a $42.45 billion federal broadband expansion program. Mike Sanders, executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office since 2023, said the office has been setting up meetings with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and federal lawmakers from his state to make his case. “Flexibility is what we’re wanting the outgrowth of those meetings” to be, he said.

State broadband offices and nonprofits received notice on May 9 that digital equity grants had been canceled. States are weighing their next steps. The Vermont Community Broadband Board is meeting with the state attorney general’s office to discuss options, “up to and including filing a lawsuit that would address this head on, in terms of the constitutionality of this Congressional appropriation for these identified groups in need.” 

A House budget bill needs to find a big pot of revenue, and it looks like Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr will be handed the job. Under a newly unveiled budget plan, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said he wants the FCC to raise $88 billion over the next nine years by auctioning off at least 600 megahertz of spectrum. Rep Guthrie’s plan appeared to hand a major political victory for the big mobile carriers—AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile—that want to perpetuate a licensed spectrum regime.

Two rural fiber providers that won grants from the government’s flagship broadband expansion program are urging the Trump administration to allow the effort to move forward without major changes. Both ClearPath and SkyRider won grants in Louisiana, one of the states given the green light under the Biden administration, to deploy fiber in rural areas.

Groups recommended for digital equity grants from the federal government have not been notified of a pause on funds. Entities did receive notice that travel related to diversity efforts would not be an allowable expense. The Free Press reported the Trump administration had frozen funding for two programs under the Digital Equity Act, totaling about $2.7 billion.

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Arielle Roth’s nomination to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Senators voted 16-12 along party lines in favor of Roth, with all the committee’s Republicans in favor. John Fetterman (D-PA) switched his vote from no to yes by proxy after the fact, with every other Democrat opposing her nomination. Roth’s nomination will now go to the full Senate.