It was supposed to provide people in rural areas with affordable high-speed internet. But three years after it was approved, the Biden administration’s $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, or BEAD, hasn’t connected any customers.
The floundering roll-out has become a symbol of government disfunction.
The rural broadband program was part of the trillion dollar infrastructure package passed back in 2021. But requirements in the law have caused delays, leaving people in rural areas stuck with their slower, less reliable internet connections.
Ron and Cindy Hansen live in a remote part of Medina County and say it took a long search to find internet service they could afford through a dish.
“Sending emails is, especially if you have a lot of attachments, they won’t go,” Cindy Hansen said.
The Hansen’s grandson couldn’t do online lessons and the couple sometimes has problems connecting to the patient portal for Ron’s doctors.
“If you’re not connected, you’re at a disadvantage,” Ron Hansen said.
Texas is in line to receive the biggest chunk of the federal broadband money, $3.3 billion, to help connect an estimated 628,000 rural homes and businesses.
But FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says after the law was approved by congress the Biden administration added requirements that make it difficult for states and providers.
“Right now, zero Americans have been connected, no homes, no businesses in fact we haven’t had one shovel full of dirt turned,” Carr said.
Car says the government is setting prices providers can charge and requiring union and local workers receive hiring priority.
“Part of the time that’s been taken by the administration has been putting in place DEI requirements, they’ve been putting in a climate change agenda, they’ve been putting in place price controls, things that have nothing to do with quickly connecting Americans,” Carr said.
The federal agency in charge of the program, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, declined our interview request and sent us a fact sheet reading: “The Biden- Harris administration’s Internet for All initiative is delivering on its promise to connect everyone in America to affordable, reliable high-speed internet service by 2030.”
The agency says it has approved initial proposals from 55 states and territories, and says it is not behind schedule.
A claim the Hansen’s find hard to believe.
“It’s discouraging because it would make the connections a lot easier and a lot more affordable,” Cindy Hansen said.
Carr says it’s now likely no one will be connected under the program until next year or perhaps even 2026
