GOP Senators Concerns with NTIA’S Broadband Plan

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Posted: Sep 02, 2022 12:01 AM

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A group of Republican senators is concerned that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is imposing rules on broadband deployment funding in the infrastructure bill that encourages the growth of government-owned networks (GONs) and imposes pricing standards that runs contrary to the law passed by Congress.Thirteen senators co-signed a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August asking for changes to the NTIA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) in regards to internet funding in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Led by Susan Collins (R‑Maine), the coalition argues that NTIA’s plan “undermines or conflicts with congressional intent” and hopes “that NTIA will expeditiously publish revisions and clarifications to the NOFO to address the…concerns.”The letter argues that NTIA is supposed to distribute the funds equitably and without discrimination, but the NTIA funding notice does not create such a level playing field. The notice pushes for the incorporation of “non-traditional broadband providers” such as municipalities, cooperatives, Native American tribes and nonprofits by requiring that final proposals include a description by states of how they ensured the participation of those entities. In fact, states must justify awards to trad …