NTIA and States Get Say Over Broadband Funds in Senate Infrastructure Bill

Under the Senate infrastructure bill, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would distribute $42.5 billion in new broadband subsidies through grants to eligible states. Local authorities would then competitively award that money to broadband service and infrastructure providers. That strategy is a departure from past efforts to help fund broadband access in which the independent Federal Communications Commission played the leading role. The FCC in recent years has deployed broadband via “reverse auctions.” In that process, the FCC asks broadband providers the minimum amount of money they would need to service a specific area and the lowest bidder wins the subsidy. Executive Director of the 2010 National Broadband Plan Blair Levin stated this change would be a trade-off in the new plan; while “there are some benefits to having local leaders decide where the needs and opportunities are,” the FCC’s auction mechanism probably enhances competition, according to Levin. However, the FCC maintains a significant role in identifying and mapping unserved locations in the US, and the FCC and NTIA will have to communicate to ensure there is no overlap in funding. Measures like the June 2021 interagency agreement amongst the FCC, NTIA and Agriculture Department are in place to help them do so.