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Done: Make the Broadband Equity, Access, and Inclusion (BEAD) Program Technology Neutral

Done: Make the Broadband Equity, Access, and Inclusion (BEAD) Program Technology Neutral
Knowledge Base Article in: Tech Policy To-Do List
Last Updated: July 24, 2025

The Latest

NTIA in June 2025 enacted changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD) to make it technology neutral.

ITIF’s Previous Recommendation

Make BEAD’s guidelines for deployment more technology neutral to remove the fiber preference and allow states to close the deployment gap in the most cost effective manner possible.

Details

The geographic digital divide is solved as much as policy can solve it. The rise of new technologies, especially ubiquitous low-earth orbit satellite coverage, means that Congress and NTIA should retool BEAD to use funds efficiently: choosing the cheapest adequate technology rather than exhausting funds by building fiber to even the most remote locations. Taking a technology-neutral approach to broadband deployment would save money that could be better spent on other causes of the digital divide. 

Keep reading:

Ellis Scherer and Joe Kane, “BEAD Needs All Technologies to Succeed” (ITIF, January 2025), https://itif.org/publications/2025/01/21/bead-needs-all-technologies-to-succeed/.  

NTIA, “Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program: BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice,” June 6, 2025, https://www.ntia.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/bead-restructuring-policy-notice.pdf.

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