Policyband

NTIA Spokesperson: ‘Extremely Disappointing’ to See Wisconsin Spend $60 Million on Locations Already Funded by BEAD

NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth’s team calls out Gov. Tony Evers (D) for saying Tuesday that BEAD left 30,000 Wisconsin locations unserved

Ted Hearn

May 21, 2026 — 10 min read

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BEAD: NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth isn’t playing “Wisconsin Nice” with that state’s broadband leadership, including retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D). NTIA is pushing back on Wisconsin’s recent claim that tens of thousands of homes will remain unserved as the state launches a new $60 million, state-funded Internet grant round designed to plug holes in its broadband map. In a press release on May 19, Evers said the spending was needed because of NTIA’s decision, engineered by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in June 2025, to abandon the Biden administration’s expensive fiber preference in favor of technological neutrality in the $42.45 billion BEAD program. (More after paywall)