Commerce GOP Leads Urge NTIA to Follow Infrastructure Law in Distributing BEAD Money
Top Republicans on the Senate and House Commerce committees urged NTIA Tuesday to rely solely on the FCC’s pending revised broadband coverage data maps as the basis for distributing money from the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment program.…
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It should not prioritize any particular type of network or broadband technology in evaluating applications for money from the infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, they said. The committees’ Democratic leaders in March urged “an emphasis on affordability, digital inclusion, high-capacity networks, competition, and community engagement” as part of NTIA’s implementation of IIJA (see 2204130049). “Closing the digital divide is a top priority of Congress, but this will only be achieved if NTIA carefully administers these programs and prioritizes unserved and underserved communities based on accurate data,” Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi, House Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and the GOP leads on the House and Senate Communications subcommittees jointly urged NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson to “not deviate” from IIJA’s “explicit instructions” for determining what areas would be eligible to receive the law’s broadband funding, including making unserved areas the top priority. NTIA should also “refrain from adding additional, needless requirements that will increase the cost and challenges of deploying new networks,” the Republicans said. “These include requiring broadband providers to commit to net neutrality restrictions, adopting burdensome labor standards, and favoring open-access networks.” Senate Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., raised concerns during Davidson’s confirmation process that the now-administrator hadn’t committed to not requiring companies receiving BEAD money to follow net neutrality requirements (see 2112140074).