Policyband

Roth Says NTIA Going After 'Unreasonable' BEAD Costs

'Our role is to be good stewards of the money,' NTIA chief says.

Ted Hearn

Sep 30, 2025 — 8 min read

Photo of NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth

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BEAD: NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth yesterday defended her agency’s effort to challenge “unreasonable” costs under the $42.25 billion BEAD program, adding that states were warned that excessively costly projects would be flagged. While the latest BEAD guidance gives states broad discretion to define priority broadband builds, Roth said at the SCTE TechExpo25 in Washington, D.C., that NTIA has seen proposals that are “quite costly to an excessive extent.” She confirmed the agency has returned those projects to states and asked providers to submit their “best and final offer,” according to a story in Fierce Networks. (More after paywall.)