The Town BEAD Forgot

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program “Benefit of the Bargain” round, sold as “technology neutral” and laser-focused on lowering costs, was neither a benefit nor a bargain for Lake Providence, the poorest parish in Louisiana. A $6 million fiber award became a $150,000 award to satellite Internet provider Starlink. A service that costs $80 a month for the “lite” tier and $120 for standard is a non-starter in a town where nearly half of its residents live below the poverty line. It also won’t attract new residents, lure former ones back, or entice the kind of businesses that could help Lake Providence climb out of poverty. So Lake Providence has gone back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, the rest of us—internet service providers, consultants, advocates, trade reporters, and fellow broadband nerds—wait with bated breath for the next BEAD guidance, FAQ, or hearing with Commerce Secretary Lutnick. We’ve forgotten that these policies land on real people, in real towns, trying to build real lives. Lake Providence is one of many places where a program designed to lift them up has instead left them behind. That is a national shame.

[Gigi Sohn is the Executive Director of the American Association for Public Broadband.]