NTIA Is Right to Curb Expensive Fiber Overreach—Next Stop: Affordability, Says ITIF

WASHINGTON—Following NTIA’s release of new rules and guidance for the BEAD program, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, released the following statement from Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy:

NTIA is right to make BEAD technology neutral and restrain excessively expensive deployment grants. Efficient deployment is essential to the long-term success of U.S. broadband policy. We should leverage new technologies that can serve remote areas economically, not fixate on exorbitantly expensive fiber builds.

Saving money on deployment is a first step toward a more rational broadband policy, but NTIA should quickly issue its promised further guidance on “allowable non-deployment activities.” Nondeployment barriers, such as lack of affordability and adoption, account for the vast majority of the digital divide. The greatest benefit of the BEAD bargain will come from using BEAD funds for targeted affordability and adoption efforts, and NTIA should explicitly permit them as soon as possible.

Contact: Austin Slater, [email protected]