{"id":48114,"date":"2025-08-06T14:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/48114\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T14:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:50:11","slug":"trump-tells-states-theyll-lose-out-on-broadband-fund-if-they-try-to-dictate-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/48114\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump tells states they’ll lose out on broadband fund if they try to dictate rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

States will lose out on their share of a $42 billion broadband fund<\/a> if they attempt to dictate rates that internet services providers (ISPs) charge low-income customers, according to a new FAQ<\/a> from the Trump administration seen by Ars Technica<\/a>. That means ISPs \u2014 which are subsidized by the government in order to provide low-cost plans \u2014 will be able to set such rates under the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) program.<\/p>\n

The new language appeared in a BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice (RPN) from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in June. “Per the RPN, states may not apply state laws to reimpose LSCO (low-cost service option) requirements removed by the RPN… violation would result in rejection of the final proposal [for states to receive funds].” It added that the the NTIA would only approve plans with low-cost rates set by ISPs.<\/p>\n

The new language would hand ISPs a major win if it holds up. New York state, for one, requires ISPs with more than 20,000 customers to offer $15 broadband plans with minimum 25Mbps download speeds, or $20 plans with 200Mbps speeds, to low-income customers. That law, the Affordable Broadband Act, has held up despite attempts by providers to strike it down in court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other states are reconsidering similar laws now. California recently withdrew a bill requiring $15 broadband plans after the NTIA said it could lose out on BEAD funds worth up to $1.86 billion. That decision was excoriated by consumer groups who pointed out that the Supreme Court itself declined to overturn New York’s law.<\/p>\n

As he’s done many times now, Trump is using federal funds as a cudgel to keep states in line \u2014 despite the fact that states’ rights are usually supported by US courts. New York assemblymember Amy Paulin, who spearheaded the state’s $15 broadband law, said that she believes the NTIA rule only applies to the other 49 states that don’t have price mandates. “It’s our understanding that any [ISP] BEAD awardee would have to comply with the Affordable Broadband Act regardless of federal subsidy,” she told Ars Technica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"States will lose out on their share of a $42 billion broadband fund if they attempt to dictate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[19278,26907,26909,26905,1638,26908,26906,14434,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-48114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-internet","tag-ars-technica","tag-bead","tag-broadband-equity","tag-broadband-plans","tag-internet","tag-national-telecommunications-and-information-administration","tag-ntia","tag-states","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}