Louisiana Gov. Wants BEAD Flexibility, Keep Fiber Priority

The GOP governor's state, the first to get funding, wants easier funding for satellite and wireless.

Louisiana Gov. Wants BEAD Flexibility, Keep Fiber Priority
Photo of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry from his office

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2025 – Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has some thoughts on how  the Trump administration should update a $42.5 billion effort to deploy broadband throughout the nation.

Landry Letter to Lutnick

Since the start of my administration, we have made it a priority to eliminate the digital divide in Louisiana. Ensuring access to high-quality broadband statewide, including across the rural areas of our state that have been too often left behind, is truly of vital importance in our state.
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There’s been a lot of anticipation around how the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program might be altered with the GOP trifecta: Control over the presidency, the House and the Senate. Republicans have made it known they don’t like the program’s preference for fiber, among other things, but it hasn’t been clear precisely what they might pursue.

On Thursday, Landry released a letter to Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick to head the Commerce Department, that the agency should ditch the “alternative technology” designation currently given to low-earth orbit satellite and unlicensed fixed wireless broadband under the program due to capacity and interference concerns from the  and classify them as “reliable broadband services.” 

That would effectively make it easier to fund the technologies without reversing the priority given to fiber. Fiber is capable of higher speeds that proponents argue make it a more permanent solution, but it’s more expensive and time-consuming to deploy. 

“We would greatly appreciate having the opportunity to serve as a thought partner and sounding board as you make necessary reforms to NTIA and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program,” Landry wrote.

Under current rules, fiber gets priority. If an ISP applies for grant funding to serve a location with fiber, it gets first dibs by default. If there’s no interest from a fiber provider, or it would be too expensive, states can look to cable or licensed fixed wireless. Only if that also falls short—and if it turns out unlicensed fixed wireless, not initially counted in BEAD maps, is absent in the area—can states fund an alternative technology.

States can choose the per-location price at which they start to look beyond fiber. Landry said the Trump administration should allow states to set that threshold before fielding applications. States, including Louisiana, largely elected not to do this, opting to set the threshold after receiving an initial set of applications. It’s possible the Biden NTIA, which had to sign off on those proposals, pushed for the move, but states wrote at the time that setting a threshold publicly before reviewing applications might dissuade some ISPs.

Landry also pushed for higher prices for the low-cost service option mandated by the program. States can set these as they wish, and they range from around $30 to $75 per month for low-income subscribers on BEAD infrastructure. ISPs have pushed the NTIA to move to increase that, arguing it’s unworkably low in some places. 

The Louisiana Governor also called for nixing several reporting requirements and committing the NTIA to certain timelines to expedite federal approvals.

Three states, including Louisiana, received the green light to begin funding projects in the final days of the Biden administration. About half have started fielding grant applications.

The Biden NTIA administrator, Alan Davidson, stepped down on Monday, and his successor hasn’t been officially named, but it’s widely rumored to be Arielle Roth, the communications policy director for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Blair Levin, former FCC chief of staff and policy advisor for New Street Research, called the possibility “likely” in an investor note Wednesday. 

That’s significant, Levin said, because Cruz sent a letter in November calling on NTIA to pause work on BEAD and outlining various criticisms of the program, including the fiber preference, low-cost plans, and high per-location costs.

Levin said investors should watch the last one most closely, as the NTIA moving to lower those high-cost thresholds would be its most direct way to shift BEAD dollars from fiber to fixed wireless and satellite.

“We stand by our earlier discussion of the likely changes in the program that the changes will be negative for terrestrial wireline and positive for satellite broadband,” Levin wrote. “However, we need to learn the actual details before we can have conviction on the materiality of the changes.”

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