Headline: We’ve long noted how the 2021 infrastructure bill included $42.5 billion for broadband dubbed the Broadband, Equity, Access And Deployment (BEAD) program.
Article: Managed by the NTIA and individual states, we’ve also noted how this money has taken a long time to get to the states for some good reasons. Namely they wanted to avoid the massive fraud and abuse that plagued earlier FCC programs (the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) mismanaged by the Trump administration and exploited by numerous companies (including Elon Musk’s Starlink).
Under RDOF, the FCC didn’t really take the time to fix shitty U.S. broadband maps, resulting in a lot of wasted, duplicative taxpayer money. Or ensure that ISPs that bid for funding could actually deliver the broadband they claimed. That resulted in a bunch of companies defaulting on millions of dollars in bids. It was a giant mess resulting in a ton of waste, fraud, abuse, and legal problems.
Date: April 1, 2025
Read Full Article: Techdirt.com
