Trump Policies Might Delay Efforts to Close the Broadband Divide by Years

All across the country, a group of connectivity experts teaches locals, old and young, about the benefits of getting online. These workers, called Digital Navigators, link people in the community with the resources and opportunities they don't know exist, like arranging online health appointments, applying for jobs, doing homework and making their businesses visible on the internet. But the grant funding the Digital Navigators is one of many programs currently at risk. Under the Biden administration, infrastructure and COVID pandemic recovery bills included $90 billion in federal funding meant to link Americans to high-speed internet. But now, President Donald Trump's latest policy changes and executive orders are disrupting progress and causing uncertainty. From what internet industry insiders can tell, the regulators under the Trump administration seemingly want to change how that money is allocated to internet providers. If you thought fiber expansion efforts were slow before, experts we talked to estimate this will delay it even further. "I would say a year or more," said Drew Garner, director of policy at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. It's not just about delays, either. Analysts say that state-driven fiber infrastructure plans will be re-evaluated in ways that favor satellite internet. "Every statement [the Commerce Department and NTIA] have said gives us every indication that they are going to prioritize and increase the role of satellite internet in the BEAD program, which would come at the expense of fiber and other technologies," Garner said.