Since January 2025, much has changed about the Broadband Equity Access Deployment program, but some things have stayed the same. Billions are at stake, and BEAD-funded providers need to deliver for the program to succeed. To ensure this happens, states and territories must use all the tools at their disposal to (1) incentivize compliance, (2) ensure providers keep their promises, and (3) take swift, decisive action to fully remedy any failures to perform. BEAD already includes several compliance and enforcement mechanisms. But because it is a grant program,  BEAD does not impose punitive monetary penalties on providers that fail to deliver. Unless states and territories take steps now, the only monetary consequence for defaulting is that providers must return their BEAD-awarded funding. Too often, that will be too little, too late for the families still waiting for broadband connections. The time to act is now. States and territories are still drafting subgrantee agreements—and this is the moment to build in stronger protections. These agreements should include “make whole” or liquidated damages clauses that remedy nonperformance in ways that allow BEAD to connect locations that have gone too long without access to high-speed internet service. These provisions would raise the monetary stakes for providers in ways that help deter nonperformance, and, in the event of default, put the government in the best position to make up for any delayed deployments, connect unserved homes, and ensure BEAD’s success.

[Stephanie Weiner is a Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology, Law and Policy. Prior to her fellowship, she served as Chief Counsel at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she led the legal teams implementing historic federal investments to expand broadband internet access and to foster wireless supply chain innovation.]

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, joined by the American Library Association, EdLiNC, and the Homework Gap Coalition, called on the Federal Communications Commission to preserve school bus Wi-Fi and hotspot lending under the E-Rate program. The urgent appeal comes as the FCC scheduled a vote that could eliminate both programs. The FCC’s proposed action would reverse its 2023 ruling clarifying that Wi-Fi on school buses is an educational purpose eligible for E-Rate funding and its 2024 order establishing hotspot lending programs for schools and libraries. Together, these initiatives provide connectivity to millions of students and library patrons who lack reliable internet access at home. The coalition emphasized that:

• School Bus Wi-Fi enables students, particularly in rural areas with long commutes, to use travel time for coursework. In New Mexico, Farmington Municipal Schools equipped its 90 buses with Wi-Fi, serving over 6,500 students daily. Parents report that children return home with homework already completed.

• Hotspot Lending Programs have proven indispensable for families, small businesses, and veterans. In Appalachian Ohio, the Brown County Public Library’s hotspot program has allowed homeschool families to join virtual classes, entrepreneurs to run mobile businesses, and veterans to participate in telehealth appointments and certification testing.

The Government Accountability Office's (GAO) “Broadband Programs: Agencies Need to Further Improve Their Data Quality and Coordination Efforts.” (Report No. GAO-25-107207) examined three areas: 1) sources of broadband availability information used by federal agencies and the quality of data in the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map; 2) federal agencies’ coordination efforts and the extent to which they align with leading interagency collaboration practices that GAO has identified; and 3) federal agencies’ coordination of broadband funding with state and territory governments. GAO made six recommendations to assist the Commission in interagency coordination and data collection for the FCC maps.  Specifically, GAO  recommended that the FCC: (1) formally document the FCC’s internal policies and procedures for conducting validations, verifications, and audits of the broadband availability data the FCC collects and making enforcement referrals; (2) assess and document the results of its Broadband Data Collection monitoring to identify any deficiencies in its data validations, verifications, audits, and enforcement referral processes; (3) take steps to remedy any deficiencies it identifies in the FCC’s monitoring of Broadband Data Collection validations, verifications, audits, and enforcement referrals; (4) clearly define and document, in collaboration and agreement with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), as appropriate, the scope of what constitutes the “covered data” referenced in the agencies’ information-sharing memorandum of understanding; (5) clearly define and document, in collaboration with NTIA, USDA, and Treasury, as appropriate, timelines for agencies to submit data on funded awards to the Broadband Funding Map, including any changes to awards; and (6) clearly define and formally document, in collaboration and agreement with NTIA, USDA, and Treasury, as appropriate, the agencies’ broadband funding de-duplication process. The FCC takes its duty to develop the most comprehensive and accurate broadband maps ever built in the United States seriously, and I appreciate the recommendations GAO provided in the report. While we continue to refine the accuracy of our maps through the iterative processes of biannual reporting, consumer challenges, verifications, and audits, we are also committed to reviewing and improving our processes to validate the underlying data that is reflected on the maps. We are pleased to inform you that the FCC is actively addressing and incorporating GAO’s six recommendations into our processes and interagency coordination of federal broadband funding projects.

Tech companies are also planning to use new broadband infrastructure to power data centers with enormous processing capabilities for a variety of applications, including artificial intelligence. However, the data center buildout comes with economic and environmental risks for many communities, especially those in the southern parts of the U.S. For marginalized communities in the South, the construction of data centers represents another stage in a history of economic extraction, which may impact their ability to reap the benefits that forthcoming broadband infrastructure buildout has to offer. This article includes portions of MediaJustice's report, "The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers in the South."