FCC and Congress Work to Reduce Barriers to Broadband Deployment
The deployment of broadband to connect businesses and families to the internet requires every level of government to avoid imposing burdensome rules and regulations that impede that process. Ensuring that projects move forward expeditiously is critical as the $42.45 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding will be released to the states from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) by December 31, 2025. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology are both considering these issues before the end of September.
The FCC’s agenda for its September 30, 2025, monthly meeting, which was released on September 9, 2025, includes two items that would streamline deployment by expediting state and local approval of proposed projects.
The Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on Accelerating Wireline Infrastructure Buildout (WC Docket No. 25-253) will open an investigation into state and local statutes and regulations that may inhibit or prohibit the deployment of wireline communications services, including efforts to obtain authorization to use public rights-of-way for network deployment. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Freeing Wireless Infrastructure from Unlawful Regulatory Burdens (WT Docket No. 25-276), moves forward on the FCC’s Build America agenda by seeking to clarify and possibly expand the commission’s rules stemming from the Spectrum Act of 2012 to expedite state or local approval of applications to modify existing tower and wireless base stations; and “ensure that state and local permitting regulations do not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the deployment of wireless infrastructure facilities.”
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology is holding a hearing on September 18, 2025, titled Examining Solutions to Expedite Broadband Permitting. The hearing will examine 29 bills that have been introduced to streamline permitting processes and expedite deployment to unserved and underserved communities across the country.
On August 27, 2025, Citizens Against Government Waste made suggestions to help streamline permitting processes at the state and local levels of governments. Far too often, infrastructure construction can become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape and approval delays. The FCC’s efforts to further streamline processes and the House subcommittee hearing should both move deployment in the right direction so that the digital divide can be closed and broadband access can be provided to every American who wishes to be connected to the internet.
