Starlink benefits as Trump admin rewrites rules for $42B grant program
The Trump administration is eliminating a desire for fiber Web in a $42.45 billion broadband deployment program, a change that’s anticipated to scale back spending on probably the most superior wired networks whereas directing extra money to Elon Musk’s Starlink and different non-fiber Web service suppliers. One report suggests Starlink may acquire $10 billion to $20 billion beneath the brand new guidelines.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick criticized the Biden administration’s dealing with of the Broadband Fairness, Entry, and Deployment (BEAD) program in a statement yesterday. Lutnick stated that “due to the prior Administration’s woke mandates, favoritism in the direction of sure applied sciences, and burdensome laws, this system has not linked a single particular person to the Web and is in dire want of a readjustment.”
The BEAD program was approved by Congress in November 2021, and the US was finalizing plans to distribute funding earlier than Trump’s inauguration. The Nationwide Telecommunications and Data Administration (NTIA), a part of the Commerce Division, developed guidelines for this system within the Biden period and approved preliminary funding plans submitted by each state and territory.
