In remarks delivered at the Hudson Institute on October 28, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth announced implementation changes to the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program regarding two topics of substantial concern for Free State Foundation scholars: (1) the imposition of so-called "net neutrality" obligations, and (2) the possibility of overlapping federal subsidies.
With respect to the former, Roth clarified that state-level net neutrality statutes represent a form of rate regulation inconsistent with statutory language found in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – "[n]othing in this title may be construed to authorize the Assistant Secretary or the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to regulate the rates charged for broadband service" – and therefore may not be applied to BEAD Program subgrantees, not just in subsidized areas, but statewide:
State-level net neutrality rules—itself a form of rate regulation—create a patchwork of conflicting regulations that raise compliance costs and deter investment…. To protect the BEAD investment, we are clarifying that BEAD providers must be protected throughout their service area in a state, while the provider is still within its BEAD period of performance. Specifically, any state receiving BEAD funds must exempt BEAD providers throughout their state footprint, from broadband-specific economic regulations, such as price regulation and net neutrality.
Regarding the latter, Roth announced a straightforward solution to the duplicate-funding risk I have highlighted on many occasions, most recently in "The Failure's in the Footnote: Agencies Must Improve Broadband Expenditure Coordination Efforts," a January 2025 Perspectives from FSF Scholars:
NTIA will require states to have providers certify in writing that they will not require or take additional federal subsidies—including operational subsidies—to complete or operate their BEAD projects…. BEAD was designed to close broadband gaps once and for all, not create another cycle of dependency. Congress envisioned "future-proof" networks that would stand on their own, not require permanent federal subsidies or future bailouts.
These changes are of a piece with other action Roth has taken to realign the BEAD Program with congressional intent, as well as ongoing efforts to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.
Video of Roth's remarks can be found here.
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