Broadband Industry Likes New Non-Deployment Bill
The SUCCESS for BEAD Act would allow more spending on infrastructure, but didn’t specify adoption or affordability efforts.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2025 – Broadband industry groups are excited about a new Senate bill that would ensure states spend their full allocations under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
The Commerce Department estimates about $21 billion of the program won’t be used for broadband deployment projects, a result of Trump administration efforts to push down spending and rural networks expanding since money was allocated in 2023.
The remaining cash has been called non-deployment funding, as states were planning to use the cash in large part on efforts to ensure people adopted and effectively used the new broadband connections enabled by BEAD-funded networks. The Trump administration rescinded approval for any non-deployment activities in June, saying more guidance would be forthcoming.
Member discussion