State senators, others question whether adjustments to BEAD will hurt rural internet quality
Lincoln, NE — Changes to Nebraska’s federally funded broadband expansion plans that Gov. Jim Pillen celebrated as a victory faced questions and criticism from state lawmakers and others concerned it will hinder internet quality.
The Nebraska Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee heard an update Thursday from the Nebraska Broadband Office on the status of broadband expansion in Nebraska.
The update came a day after Pillen announced that just $44.5 million of the $405 million Nebraska was awarded through the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program would be used to connect unserved Nebraskans.
Pillen said an additional $21 million in pledged private investments would support reaching the remaining 2% of Nebraska households and other properties still waiting to gain access to a broadband connection.
The Pillen administration plan has received initial approval for its approach, but approval of the actual spending requires an additional step of federal approval, a Pillen spokeswoman said Wednesday night.
“This is a tremendous victory for Nebraska,” Pillen said in a statement. “Reliable broadband is essential for daily life, from schoolwork and healthcare to running a business or managing a farm. With this approval, rural Nebraskans who have been left waiting will finally have access to the same online opportunities and services as everyone else.”
But some lawmakers and other Nebraskans viewed the governor’s announcement differently. In a social media post, Charles Herbster, a possible Republican challenger to Pillen’s gubernatorial re-election bid, criticized why only a small fraction of Nebraska’s initial BEAD allocation would be used, with no guarantees that the state would be allowed to hold onto the remaining funds.
“No amount of spin can hide the truth: Nebraska gave up,” Herbster said. “The Pillen administration failed our rural communities when given every opportunity to succeed. The only honest way forward is to admit it.”
Nebraska was awarded the $405 million under the Biden administration in 2023, money that prompted the creation of the Nebraska Broadband Office the same year. BEAD funding is the only revenue stream supporting the office, director Patrick Haggerty said.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission, the state’s catch-all elected regulator, had managed all broadband expansion efforts up to that point, using funds from the state’s Broadband Bridge Program and Universal Service Fund. The Legislature defunded the Broadband Bridge Program this year.
As the Broadband Office evaluated the first round of broadband project applications this summer, Haggerty said the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), now led by the Trump administration, announced significant changes to the BEAD program.The changes, among other things, prioritized lower-cost plans and adjusted the eligibility requirements for existing unserved and underserved locations.
The changes cut the number of program-eligible locations in Nebraska still lacking broadband access in half, from about 29,600 to just over 14,000. Haggerty said the roughly 15,600 removed locations either already had internet connections through private investments or were covered by unlicensed fixed wireless access broadband.
While Haggerty argued unlicensed fixed wireless is a reliable form of internet connection, State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, who has led past broadband expansion efforts in the Legislature, disagreed. He compared the reliability to that of a cellphone hotspot.
Brandt also criticized the NTIA’s updated guidance for eliminating the program’s previous preference for fiber internet, which was described as the “gold standard” for internet connectivity at Thursday’s hearing. Brandt said Nebraska is limited to using just 10% of its current $44.5 million allocation for fiber.
In Nebraska, about 4,600 locations are proposed to be served by satellite internet, for about $1,000 per location or $4.7 million. By comparison, it would cost about $14,600 per location to service similar locations via fiber because of the cost of burying lines to remote locations. The cost for fixed wireless is about $2,200 per location.
Because Nebraska had excess funds, it was able to propose awarding money for broadband at 54 so-called “community anchor institutions,” such as fire halls, hospitals and nursing homes. But advocates said the 54 were short of how many such institutions could have been served.
Haggerty, who previously worked in the fiber industry, vouched for the other forms of technology that can be used to establish broadband internet connections. Though most of the methods are newer than fiber, he said they are competitive both from a market and technological perspective.
Multiple committee members shared frustrations about the updated NTIA guidance and potential loss of federal funds, saying that they often hear complaints from their constituents about the lacking quality of their internet service.
Pillen’s statement said his administration is advocating for Nebraska to retain its unspent BEAD funds. Haggerty told the committee his office is “fighting like heck” to make that happen. A Pillen spokeswoman said the state hopes to hear around the end of the year whether it will be able to access those funds.
State Sen. Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln questioned what the remaining funds could be used for if Nebraska is able to keep it. Haggerty said his office kept alternate ideas broad in the state’s federal proposal but listed investment opportunities like precision agriculture and artificial intelligence.
Pillen vouched for similar measures in his statement.
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