Madyson Fitzgerald
Federal Plan Changes May Reduce Nation’s Internet Connectivity
The Trump administration's changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program have disqualified hundreds of thousands of locations — including homes, businesses and community buildings — from receiving internet access. And the program's new technology-neutral approach will also shift a large portion of the federal funds toward satellite internet companies, including Elon Musk's Starlink, that cost less to build but have more uneven service than underground fiber optic cable.
Trump’s broadband program overhaul favors Musk tech, strips low-cost plans
The Trump administration released revised rules for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, stripping the Biden-era effort of many key requirements and making it easier for Elon Musk’s company to win grants. Under the revised guidelines, the BEAD Program will take a technology-neutral approach to expanding broadband access rather than focusing on fiber internet.
Native nations with scarce internet are building their own broadband networks
On the Hopi Reservation’s more than 1.5 million acres of desert landscape in northeast Arizona, most residents live in villages atop arid mesas. Below ground, there’s a network of copper wires that provides telephone and internet service. In 2004, Hopi Telecommunications bought the company that had installed them, but has been struggling ever since to upgrade the network to broadband speeds. Hopi Telecommunications serves both the Hopi reservation and parts of the surrounding Navajo Nation.