Davidson to Step Down from NTIA on Jan. 20
It's not clear who will succeed him at NTIA under the Trump administration.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2024 – Alan Davidson said Thursday he will step down from his post leading the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Jan. 20, 2025.
“The truth is that the work that we’re all doing – and you all are a part of it – it’s changing people’s lives,” Davidson said at a Broadband Breakfast event here. “It’s rare to have the opportunity, certainly in federal service, to so directly touch people. It’s really been a privilege.”
Davidson has been NTIA Administrator since January 2022. He has overseen the agency’s rollout of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, plus other grant programs for digital equity projects, middle mile broadband infrastructure, and Tribal networks.
Like Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Davidson is leaving the day President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in.
The Federal Communications Commission finalized the coverage maps used to allocate BEAD funds at the state level in May 2023. Since then, the NTIA greenlit all 56 state and territory plans for spending their BEAD funds, a first step required by the law that created the program.
So far, two states have made preliminary awards under the program – those also need NTIA approval – and at least 14 have begun soliciting grant applications. The two that have finished, Louisiana and Delaware, secured coverage for all their homes and businesses without adequate broadband, a main aspiration of the program.
“We are on the move,” Davidson said.
The GOP has been strongly critical of some of the NTIA’s BEAD rules, like its preference for fiber broadband and its requirement that participating providers offer a low-cost plan to low-income residents. The latter is also required by law in some form, but Republicans wanted the agency to move away from explicit price caps.
Congressional Republicans have talked publicly about making changes to BEAD – Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said at the event that the Senate Commerce Committee will “review” provisions of the program.
The president-elect has nominated Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street CEO, to head the Commerce Department, which houses NTIA. Lutnick hasn’t spoken publicly about BEAD or broadband. It’s also not clear who might succeed Davidson as NTIA Administrator.
BEAD’s director within the NTIA, Evan Feinman, has said he and his staff have no plans to step down, something Davidson emphasized Thursday.
Broadband Breakfast
