Stick With Fiber, Rural Providers Tell Washington

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2025 – A Minnesota broadband leader warned Thursday that imposing a per-location price cap under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program would be “terribly detrimental” to the state’s progress toward universal fiber access.

“All of the locations that are left are really high-cost areas,” said Kristi Westbrock, CEO and general manager of Consolidated Telecommunications Company, speaking at the USTelecom 2025 American Connectivity Forum. “So, the number one leading concern definitely is the discussion around caps [being] put in place on how much could be spent per location.”

“Minnesotans expect fiber,” said Westbrook, whose company is a cooperative broadband provider serving central and northern Minnesota. “We’ve had our broadband program in place for so long, and the stories of fiber are well known. Consumers understand what fiber to their home means for them.”

The state’s Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program has awarded over $400 million to provide broadband access to nearly 120,000 homes and businesses since it launched in 2014. 

Initially structured to prioritize fiber as the gold standard for broadband, the BEAD program may be veering toward a lowest-cost-first approach under Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

In a March 27 letter to Lutnick, Minnesota Office of Broadband Development Executive Director Bree Maki said any new changes to BEAD proposed by Lutnick should be optional.

Speakers at Thursday’s USTelecom event argued that fiber’s higher upfront cost was  outweighed by its long-term value. In fact, they claimed it’s the most fiscally responsible technology available for connecting unserved and underserved communities.

“While the cost, the capex of putting fiber in the ground up front is significant, the ongoing operating expenses of fiber are less than other types of broadband technology. This means that in the long term, fiber is the most efficient,” argued Jason Williams, CEO of Blackfoot Communications, a Montana-based rural broadband provider operating across the Rocky Mountain region.

Williams called fiber a future-proof solution.

“Remember, the fiber that we're putting in the ground today is still going to be lit and providing services 30 or even 40 years from now,” Williams said. “There is no question that fiber is the fastest, most reliable, and most scalable form of broadband connectivity. Everyone in this room knows that it’s fiber that powers America’s mobile wireless networks, and even satellite providers need fiber to connect their terrestrial base stations."

Not all broadband technologies are the same, Jennifer Prather, CEO of Totelcom, a family-owned broadband provider serving rural Texas since the 1950s.

“We need to be cautious not to equate technological neutrality with interchangeability,” Prather said. “That's just intellectually dishonest to say that when you're looking at fiber versus fixed wireless versus satellites, that you're getting the same thing long term.”

Panelists also raised alarm about the legal threat to the Universal Service Fund, a decades-old program that helps subsidize phone and internet service in rural areas, low-income households, schools, libraries, and healthcare facilities. The fund’s constitutionality is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, raising fears that it could be dismantled.

Jake Baldwin, CEO of the Cross Family Companies, a group of telecommunications providers based in Oklahoma and serving rural communities across the state, said that without USF support, many providers would be forced to raise prices beyond what rural customers can afford — potentially leaving BEAD-funded networks without sustainable operating revenue.

“If we had to replace [USF] support for customers in one of our study areas, we would have to raise rates by over $200 over current rates,” Baldwin said. “They can’t do that. We can’t expect them to... Then you're [also affecting] schools, libraries, rural healthcare facilities.”

Former Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly is working with the Keep America Connected Coalition on federal legislation designed to backstop the $8.5 billion USF funded in the event the Supreme Court rules the program unconstitutional.

“Watching [USF] evaporate would kill a lot of healthcare facilities,” said Zil Joyce Dixon Romero, state government affairs manager of the National Rural Health Association. “Right now in the United States, 50% of all rural hospitals are operating in the red or on the margins. Taking away even just that little bit of credit [means] then they would have to pass it on to the individuals that are coming to their facilities.”