NTIA’s New Administrator Will Connect More Americans
After Arielle Roth was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), closing the digital divide may be closer than ever. Her confirmation comes at a critical time for the agency, as it begins to send out funding to states for the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and locating federally held spectrum that can be made available for future auctions.
Administrator Roth will be able to ensure that the BEAD program operates as Congress intended and get unserved and underserved businesses and households connected to the internet. The Biden administration’s guidance, which included provisions that were outside of the scope of the BEAD program as enacted by Congress, caused delays in deployment that were so widespread that not a single business or household was connected.
Following the June 6, 2025, release of updated guidance, all 56 states and territories have been authorized to start their “Benefit of the Bargain” round for funding applications. The revised guidance eliminates non-statutory requirements related to labor, employment, and workforce development; climate change requirements; open access and net neutrality restrictions; preferences for non-traditional broadband providers like local governments or political subdivisions; and the middle-class affordability and low-cost plan requirements that impose price controls on broadband service. It also redefines an eligible low-cost program subscriber from a household that qualified for the Affordable Connectivity Fund to a household that qualifies for the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline program, resolving an issue that was identified in CAGW’s October 2024 BEAD issue brief. The NOFO also encourages technology neutrality, rather than prioritizing a single technology, which allow states to identify the best technology to connect individual communities, which could be fiber, cable, fixed wireless, or satellite. The distribution of funds is supposed to be completed by December 31, 2025.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Pub. Law No. 119-21, authorized spectrum auctions at the FCC, and required the NTIA to locate 800 megahertz of spectrum to be made available for auction for private exclusive use. NTIA’s review includes examining federally held bands of spectrum to determine whether agencies are using it efficiently and effectively, or if those bands might be made available for high-powered exclusive licensed use and can be auctioned by the FCC. Giving up federally held spectrum has been problematic at best in the past.
Administrator Roth has an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that BEAD funding is distributed to the states as expeditiously as possible to ensure that state broadband offices can move forward with bridging the digital divide and determine how much spectrum held by federal agencies can be better utilized and made available for auction by the FCC. Getting more Americans connected to broadband will keep the U.S. at the forefront of global telecommunications.
