By Heather Wilkins
August 25, 2025
Like many in the industry, I was excited when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the allocation of funds for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program back in 2023. As someone working in renewable power solutions for hard-to-reach locations, the promise of a $42.5 billion investment aimed at delivering high-speed internet to all Americans, regardless of geography, signaled an opportunity.
Local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the country stood ready to act, prepared to invest in areas that had been ignored for decades. But more than two years later, the optimism that once surrounded BEAD has given way to frustration. Bureaucratic delays, regulatory red tape, and shifting guidance under the new administration have stalled progress and deepened uncertainty, hurting not just the broadband industry, but the rural and underserved communities BEAD was meant to uplift.
The early delays were understandable, navigating state-level planning and oversight for a program of this size was never going to be simple. But what’s harder to justify is how political indecision and policy pivots have further derailed momentum. The insistence on “technology-neutral” language, for example, sounds inclusive but often waters down efforts to prioritize real-world, scalable broadband solutions. Meanwhile, evolving federal priorities have forced states that already had approved plans to go back to the drawing board, costing time and resources.
Provisions that once centered on affordability, workforce development, and community-based networks have been quietly scaled back or stripped out entirely. These weren’t just box-checking items, they were pillars of a sustainable broadband future. The longer this continues, the more BEAD risks becoming another federal program bogged down by politics rather than driven by outcomes.
In a modest course correction, the NTIA recently issued updated guidance aimed at unclogging the pipeline. This includes streamlined approvals for certain project types, renewed focus on affordability, and greater flexibility in serving unserved and underserved areas. It’s a step in the right direction, but one that arrives late in the game, and only after public pressure and growing industry frustration.
Despite it all, I remain hopeful. The wireless industry is ready. Local providers are eager. The resources are there and the technology exists. What we need now isn’t more guidance or political maneuvering, we need action.
Follow BEAD progress here: NTIA BEAD Program Progress Dashboard