2025 Was a Year of More BEAD Turmoil

Editor's Note: Published on Dec. 15, 2025; republished on Jan. 5, 2026.

In January, three states’ spending plans under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program had been approved by the Commerce Department, and more than a dozen others had begun taking grant applications.

12 Days of Broadband 2025 (click to open)

• On the First Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__One Carr driving the Federal Communications Commission .
• On the Second Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__Two superpowers racing toward AI superintelligence dominance .
• On the Third Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:Three branches of government (and some formerly independent agencies).
• On the Fourth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__Four programs with Universal Service Funds .
• On the Fifth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__56 states and territories without digital equity grants.
• On the Sixth Day of Broadband, my true level sent to me:__Less than 6 months for a broadband permit .
• On the Seventh Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__Data center-powered electricity bills up 70 percent .
• On the Eighth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__800 megahertz of spectrum to sell at auction .
• On the Ninth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__$9 billion + 12 billion (or $21 billion) in BEAD remaining funds .
• On the Tenth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__Not even $10/month for an affordable connectivity program .
• On the Eleventh Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__Through BEAD and broadband, 110 million locations served .
• On the Twelfth Day of Broadband, my true love sent to me:__More than 1200 megahertz of spectrum for unlicensed wireless .

Click to read each of the 12 Days of Broadband articles!

By June, that would no longer be the case. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration issued a directive rescinding those approvals and requiring states to hold another bidding rounds – by then more than 40 states had begun fielding applications – under new rules that were less favorable to fiber.

The directive wasn’t entirely unexpected. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had said in March the agency was reviewing the program to make it more “tech-neutral” and cut down spending – fiber can be more expensive to deploy.

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