South Carolina's broadband office has announced that of the $551 million originally available under BEAD grants for connecting the state's remaining unserved locations, it plans to spend just $41.3 million, or 7.49 percent of the $551 million originally allocated to the state.
Only 20,480 eligible homes and businesses remain to be served. South Caolina attributed this to the investments already made using American Rescue Plan Act funds. These funds led to the relatively rapid reduction in unserved and underserved locations.
This very sizeable reduction in expenditures is a testament to the success of the revamping and reorienting of the BEAD program under the Trump administration. The Biden administration's rules, contrary to the congressional direction, disfavored the use of lower cost technological platforms other than fiber. And the Biden administration created additional costs by including it its rules mandates requiring use of union labor, favoring government-owned networks, and inducing rate regulation.
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