NTIA wants to claim leftover BEAD funds as taxpayer ‘savings’

At least 36 states and territories have submitted to the federal government final proposals outlining how they plan to use the billions of dollars in funding provided by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. While the federal agency overseeing the program said the new proposals will deliver a projected “savings of at least $13 billion for American taxpayers,” experts say this assertion may be misleading. In its statement, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said the program changes will “turbocharge” the speed of deployment and increase the amount of “savings” for taxpayers, with some states now proposing to use less than half of the funds they were originally allocated through BEAD on direct broadband deployment. However, this $13 billion figure, which is derived from the difference between the amount of funds originally allocated to the 36 states and territories in 2023 and the unspent funds remaining after the bottom line of those new proposals filed last week, is not set to go back into the pockets of the federal government—not yet, at least. Drew Garner, director of policy engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, said it’s misleading for the NTIA to claim these funds as “savings,” because under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 that created the $45 billion broadband program, the funds are meant to remain with the states even if they aren’t spent directly on building out new fiber networks or installing wireless towers.