Satellite’s use grows as BEAD plans roll in

A new online dashboard to track the progress of a federal program to deploy broadband internet found that two satellite internet providers are slated to connect hundreds of thousands of locations, although fiber still leads the way.

The finding comes from Connected Nation, a broadband and technology nonprofit, which released a tracker that aggregates data directly from states’ revised plans for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

According to a state-by-state breakdown by Connected Nation, both SpaceX’s Starlink, helmed by Elon Musk, and Amazon-backed Project Kuiper, are in line to serve around 200,000 locations apiece, with that number ticking up all the time as more states submit their final plans to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for review.

That finding would appear to align with NTIA’s revised goal of technological neutrality for BEAD, which it outlined in June amid several changes to the program. At the time, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he wanted to see a shift away from the agency’s previous preference for fiber above all other technologies used to reduce the digital divide.

Fiber still appears to be playing a leading role, too, with Connected Nation finding that it is used almost 70% of the time in the various proposed projects nationwide, satellite at 19%, fixed wireless at 9% and cable at just under 3%. That finding is approximately in line with other organizations who are tracking BEAD’s progress.

“It is safe to say that the trend is significantly away from fiber for as many people as possible under the original BEAD, and now it is much more of an, all the technologies are playing a very strong role in the current structure of BEAD, which is what the federal government wanted,” said Drew Garner, director of policy engagement at the nonprofit Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, which is also tracking BEAD spending.

Final plans were due with the NTIA earlier this month, although some states received an extension. And in its announcement of those plans being submitted, NTIA said states are already projecting savings of $13 billion, which officials said are “driven by a rise in participation by the private sector, increased matching commitments by subgrantees, and a surge of innovative technology solutions to deliver high-speed connectivity.”

Garner said there are three primary reasons why there is already funding left over from the original $42 billion. One is that when BEAD was created four years ago, there were 12 million unserved locations eligible for funding, but that figure has since shrunk to 4 million due to other grant programs, including some at the federal level, to close the digital divide. Internet service providers also deserve credit for expanding their offerings, Garner added.

NTIA’s rule-changes are also “substituting cheaper and less high-quality internet service,” Garner alleged, while satellite companies’ low bids to serve certain locations are undercutting those from other ISPs. Garner said that has caused them to “reduce their ambition,” so some providers are asking for less money and creating a “race to the bottom.”

That isn’t how NTIA sees it, however. In a widely-circulated fact sheet debunking what it described as “lies” about “swampy special interests that want BEAD money without any oversight,” the agency said it is “doing what every taxpayer should demand — asking questions before handing out billions of dollars.”

NTIA also said it is giving states “significant deference” on the technology they choose for their broadband projects, and allowing them to “tailor solutions to local needs.”

While satellite providers made a significant push to have even more opportunities across states, they may feel they came up short. As part of furious state-level lobbying, SpaceX sent letters to Virginia and Louisiana’s broadband offices arguing that its bids to serve certain locations should have been successful over fiber providers. The company accused both states of wasteful spending and of failing to ensure they complied with the program’s new rules.

“Simply put, Virginia has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias over speedy, low cost, and technology neutral competition,” SpaceX said in its letter to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, which contains the state’s broadband office.

Satellite providers have not come away empty-handed, however, based on the revamped BEAD plans coming out of various states. West Virginia, for example, provisionally awarded SpaceX just over $6 million to provide the technology to 4,100 locations. Companies had declined to participate the first time around, potentially due to the state’s terrain being unsuitable for the technology. Other states are using satellite to serve locations based on various analyses of their plans as they become public.

Whether the cost savings and technology neutrality result in people having access to broadband and their internet bills being cheaper remains to be seen, Garner said.

“The new BEAD’s goal is to save money, reduce costs, and give people some type of internet service, not necessarily something that works, but something,” he said. “The new BEAD program, it's solely focused on driving down the cost to the program, not the cost of the household.”