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Starlink benefits as Trump admin rewrites rules for $42B grant program

access, and Deployment program, BEAD program, Broadband Equity, elon musk, Policy, starlink / /

Don’t be “technology-blind,” broadband group says

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society criticized what it called “Trump’s BEAD meddling,” saying it would “leave millions of Americans with broadband that is slower, less reliable, and more expensive.” The shift to a “technology-neutral” approach should not be “technology-blind,” the advocacy group said.

“Fiber broadband is widely understood to be better than other Internet options—like Starlink’s satellites—because it delivers significantly faster speeds, is more reliable due to its resistance to interference (from weather, foliage, terrain, etc), has higher bandwidth capacity, and offers symmetrical upload and download speeds, making it ideal for activities like telehealth, online learning, streaming, and gaming that require consistent high performance,” the group said.

It’s ultimately up to individual states to distribute funds to ISPs after getting their allocations from the US government, though the states have to follow rules issued by federal officials. No one knows exactly how much each Internet provider will receive, but a Wall Street Journal report this week said the new rules could help Starlink get nearly half of the available funding.

“Under the BEAD program’s original rules, Starlink was expected to get up to $4.1 billion, said people familiar with the matter. With Lutnick’s overhaul, Starlink, a unit of Musk’s SpaceX, could receive $10 billion to $20 billion, they said,” according to the WSJ report.

The end of BEAD’s fiber preference would also help cable and fixed wireless providers access grant funding. Lobby groups for those industries have been calling for rule changes to help their members obtain grants.

While the Commerce Department is moving ahead with BEAD changes on its own, Republicans are also proposing a rewrite of the law. House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) yesterday announced legislation that his office said would eliminate “burdensome conditions imposed by the Biden-Harris Administration, including those related to labor, climate change, and rate regulation, that made deployment more expensive and participation less attractive.”

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$42B broadband grant program may scrap Biden admin’s preference for fiber

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US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been demanding an overhaul of a $42.45 billion broadband deployment program, and now his telecom policy director has been chosen to lead the federal agency in charge of the grant money.

“Congratulations to my Telecom Policy Director, Arielle Roth, for being nominated to lead NTIA,” Cruz wrote last night, referring to President Trump’s pick to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Roth’s nomination is pending Senate approval.

Roth works for the Senate Commerce Committee, which is chaired by Cruz. “Arielle led my legislative and oversight efforts on communications and broadband policy with integrity, creativity, and dedication,” Cruz wrote.

Shortly after Trump’s election win, Cruz called for an overhaul of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which was created by Congress in November 2021 and is being implemented by the NTIA. Biden-era leaders of the NTIA developed rules for the program and approved initial funding plans submitted by every state and territory, but a major change in approach could delay the distribution of funds.

Cruz previously accused the NTIA of “technology bias” because the agency prioritized fiber over other types of technology. He said Congress would review BEAD for “imposition of statutorily-prohibited rate regulation; unionized workforce and DEI labor requirements; climate change assessments; excessive per-location costs; and other central planning mandates.”

Roth criticized the BEAD implementation at a Federalist Society event in June 2024. “Instead of prioritizing connecting all Americans who are currently unserved to broadband, the NTIA has been preoccupied with attaching all kinds of extralegal requirements on BEAD and, to be honest, a woke social agenda, loading up all kinds of burdens that deter participation in the program and drive up costs,” she said.

Impact on fiber, public broadband, and low-cost plans

Municipal broadband networks and fiber networks in general could get less funding under the new plans. Roth is “expected to change the funding conditions that currently include priority access for government-owned networks” and “could revisit decisions like the current preference for fiber,” Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Reducing the emphasis on fiber could direct more grant money to cable, fixed wireless, and satellite services like Starlink. SpaceX’s attempt to obtain an $886 million broadband grant for Starlink from a different government program was rejected during the Biden administration.

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Ted Cruz wants to overhaul $42B broadband program, nix low-cost requirement

access, and Deployment program, Broadband Equity, Policy, ted cruz / /

Emboldened by Donald Trump’s election win, Republicans are seeking big changes to a $42.45 billion broadband deployment program. Their plan could delay distribution of government funding and remove or relax a requirement that ISPs accepting subsidies must offer low-cost Internet plans.

US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued a press release titled, “Sen. Cruz Warns Biden-Harris NTIA: Big Changes Ahead for Multi-Billion-Dollar Broadband Boondoggle.” Cruz, who will soon be chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, is angry about how the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has implemented the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program that was created by Congress in November 2021.

The NTIA announced this week that it has approved the funding plans submitted by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories, which are slated to receive federal money and dole it out to broadband providers for network expansions. Texas was the last state to gain approval in what the NTIA called “a major milestone on the road to connecting everyone in America to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service.”

Republicans including Cruz and incoming Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr have criticized the NTIA for not distributing the money faster. But Cruz’s promise of a revamp creates uncertainty about the distribution of funds. Cruz sent a letter yesterday to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson in which he asked the agency to halt the program rollout until Trump takes over. Cruz also accused the NTIA of “technology bias” because the agency decided that fiber networks should be prioritized over other types of technology.

Cruz: Stop what you’re doing

“It is incumbent on you to bear these upcoming changes in mind during this transition term,” Cruz wrote. “I therefore urge the NTIA to pause unlawful, extraneous BEAD activities and avoid locking states into in [sic] any final actions until you provide a detailed, transparent response to my original inquiry and take immediate, measurable steps to address these issues.”

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Cox asks court to block Rhode Island plan for broadband expansions

access, and Deployment program, Broadband Equity, Cox communications, Policy / /
Both ends of an Ethernet cable sitting on a table

Getty Images | Adrienne Bresnahan

Cox Communications asked a court to block Rhode Island’s plan for distributing $108.7 million in federal funding for broadband deployment. If successful, Cox’s lawsuit could prevent other Internet service providers from obtaining grants to expand into areas that Cox says it already serves with high-speed broadband.

The cable company claims Rhode Island used “flawed Internet speed data” to determine which areas are underserved and that the plan “will benefit wealthy parts of the State already served with high-speed Internet in contravention of the program that it purports to implement.”

Cox filed the lawsuit on Monday in Superior Court in Providence, Rhode Island. It seeks an injunction prohibiting Rhode Island from using the allegedly flawed speed test data to determine where broadband grants should be directed.

The organization overseeing the state’s broadband funding plans quickly issued a response calling Cox’s lawsuit “misleading and unsupported by facts.”

“Let’s be clear about what’s behind Cox’s lawsuit: It is an attempt to prevent the investment of $108.7 million in broadband infrastructure in Rhode Island, likely because it realizes that some, or even all, of that money may be awarded through a competitive process to other Internet service providers,” said the response issued by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation.

Cox accused of sitting out public process

The Commerce Corporation is a quasi-public agency that is implementing the state’s $108.7 million share of the $42 billion federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. It said that Cox is the “state’s leading provider” but “declined to engage in the robust, months-long public planning process on how the Corporation would deploy Rhode Island’s BEAD funds.”

“Cox did not submit public comments on the design of the BEAD program, did not raise concerns at public Broadband Advisory Council meetings (where they are the sole provider represented), and declined to share its network map information during the 90-day Rhode Island Broadband Map Challenge Process. Our planning process was open and participatory, and Cox did not participate,” the corporation said.

Cox disputed the claim. “For over a year Cox has presented facts and evidence as to why Commerce’s broadband plan is flawed and these arguments have been ignored at every turn,” the company said in a statement provided to Ars. “We have shared our mapping data with Commerce—in fact we have a data sharing agreement with Commerce. To state today that this information hasn’t been conveyed is not factual.”

Cox said its officials “met with [Commerce] Secretary [Elizabeth] Tanner and her staff repeatedly to raise concerns,” and submitted formal comments “through its trade association, the New England Connectivity and Telecommunications Association.”

Rhode Island is one of 44 states and territories that have obtained National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approval for an initial plan to distribute funds. The approval, granted in July, “enables Rhode Island to request access to funding and begin implementation of the BEAD program,” the NTIA said.

Ookla speed tests in dispute

Cox’s lawsuit criticized Rhode Island’s use of Ookla speed test data. The Commerce Corporation “layered Ookla speed test data from the past 12 months over the FCC map, and ‘reclassified’ as ‘underserved’ any location which had a speed test result of less than 100Mpbs, and also reclassified some locations as ‘underserved’ within census block groups based on Ookla speed test data that did not pertain to any specific location,” Cox wrote.

The Federal Communications Commission’s broadband map is based on submissions from Internet service providers, which in at least some cases were inaccurate. While the FCC has used a challenge process to periodically improve the map’s accuracy, there continue to be complaints about the map claiming unserved or underserved areas have fast broadband. Under the BEAD process, states can investigate availability locally to determine where funding should be directed.

The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation said its plan is “built on fairness, transparency, and a commitment to maximizing the impact of this historic federal investment… and, contrary to Cox’s assertions, parts of the state are indeed unserved or underserved, including areas that Cox claims are affluent. Whether an area is affluent or not has no bearing on the type of broadband service that is—or is not—available in that area.”

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