An outgoing official at the US Commerce Department is alleging that the Trump administration could misuse a federal broadband program to enrich Elon Musk’s Starlink business over funding faster fiber installations.
On Friday, the outgoing director to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program sent an email, blasting the Trump administration’s decision to potentially shift more of the funding to satellite internet systems such as Starlink.
The problem is that much of the funding has been allocated to US states for fiber installations capable of delivering speeds of 1Gbps or more — which is faster than Starlink, a service that’s facing congestion issues in the US.
“Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” wrote Evan Feinman, the former director for the BEAD Program, in his departing email, which was leaked to ProPublica.
“More people will get Starlink/Kuiper, and fewer people will get fiber connection,” he added, referring to Amazon’s Starlink rival, Project Kuiper, which has faced repeated delays.
It’s true that Starlink has proven to be a godsend for many US users who’ve only had access to slow internet options. But Feinman says the BEAD Program was on the precipice of funding much-needed fiber installations in certain US states, promising even faster speeds at a lower price. “Shovels (to install the fiber) could already be in the ground in three states, and they could be in the ground in half the country by the summer without the proposed changes to project selection,” he said.
The Commerce Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But Feinman sent the email as the agency plans to revamp the BEAD program, claiming it suffers from “burdensome regulations” that need to be stripped out. Still, several Democrat lawmakers have raised alarm bells about the revamp after The Wall Street Journal reported that Starlink could receive as much as $20 billion in subsidies, up from a mere $4 billion.
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In response to the concerns, Feinman’s email encourages affected US residents and their Congressional representatives to “speak up” while they still can.
“They should fix BEAD by removing the requirements that have nothing to do with building infrastructure, NOT change it to benefit technology that delivers slower speeds at higher costs to the household paying the bill,” he added. “This isn’t what people in rural America want. It’s not what Congressional Republicans or Democrats want. It’s not what the states want. It’s not what the telecom industry wants.”
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
