D.C. Memo: GOP Sen. Fischer Pressuring Lutnick to Give Nebraska More BEAD Money for Fiber
Only 9.37% of Cornhusker State Locations Getting Fiber, Compared to 66% Nationally
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BEAD: Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., criticized the Trump Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration Thursday for what she called inadequate support for fiber deployment in Nebraska, urging federal officials to give states more latitude in allocating funds under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. Speaking at USTelecom’s 2025 Broadband Investment Forum, Fischer said recent BEAD program changes “minimized Nebraska’s ability to stick to its original state buildout plan, which would have maximized service to underserved locations, but especially to unserved locations, and that was well within the budget allocated by Congress.”
In June 2023, the Biden administration allocated $405.2 million in BEAD funds to Nebraska to deploy high-speed Internet to all unserved and underserved locations. Under new NTIA rules released in June under Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Nebraska submitted a final proposal seeking $43.9 million, with fiber ISPs receiving 9.37% of locations, Fixed Wireless Access ISPs 57.89%, and low Earth orbit satellite Internet service operators 32.74%. Nebraska has 14,086 eligible BEAD locations. Meanwhile, 66% of locations nationally are slated to get fiber. Fischer said states “have always been able to exercise discretion when it comes to those BEAD allocations, just so long as it applies to the law and that is what Congress intended.” She directed her remarks to Lutnick and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth, pressing them to revisit award guidance. (More after paywall.)
