House Commerce Hearing Critiques NTIA's Handling of BEAD Program

As I previewed in a Monday post to the Free State Foundation blog, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology the following day held a hearing on the status of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Participants had much to say about NTIA's management of the program, particularly with respect to timing, clarity, and the approval process.

Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) in her opening remarks focused on "NTIA's decision to pressure states to regulate the rates charged for broadband service," "unnecessary workforce and climate-related requirements," "an expensive fiber-first agenda," and "unnecessary delays in NTIA's approval process."

Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta (R-OH) touched on similar topics in his opening remarks – and expressed concern that "NTIA continues to add requirements that are contrary to Congressional intent and make this program less attractive and more expensive to the broadband providers needed to deploy to unserved and underserved communities."

In a Written Statement, Misty Ann Giles, Director of the Department of Administration and Chief Operating Officer for the State of Montana, characterized navigating the BEAD Program process as "akin to building a plane while flying it without having the necessary instructions to be successful" and complained that "Montana has often received conflicting or even new and changed guidance after submitting our plans or beginning a previously approved NTIA operational process."

One specific example provided relates to NTIA's recent guidance regarding "alternative technologies" such as satellites and unlicensed wireless. Many, including Committee Chair Rodgers and Subcommittee Chair Latta, support the use of these and other non-fiber distribution platforms in areas where the deployment of fiber would be prohibitively expensive. But Giles, echoing an argument I made a month ago in "BEAD Program Technological Neutrality 'Fix' Falls Short," a Perspectives from FSF Scholars, pointed out that "[w]hile much of the guidance is helpful and needed, it has come at the 11th hour for Montana."

Shirley Bloomfield, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association CEO, testified that "several concerns, if not adequately addressed, could deter small, community-based providers from participating in BEAD." They include: the accuracy of the FCC's National Broadband Map, prohibitively large project areas, preferences based upon fund-matching ability, higher-than-expected costs and longer-than-expected permitting processes, and the uncertain fate of the Universal Service Fund.

Video of the hearing is available here.