House Republicans are taking the Biden administration to task for what they allege is allowing states to regulate broadband rates as part of the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), even though that law “explicitly prohibits” such rate regulations.
House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Communications Subcommittee chair Bob Latta (R-Ohio) were joined by 14 other committee Republicans in a letter to Alan Davidson, head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is the lead agency implementing the multibillion-dollar IIJA’s broadband subsidies to state via the administration’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.
The Republicans pointed to Davidson’s testimony at a December 5 NTIA oversight hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee, at which they said Davidson “repeatedly suggested” NTIA would allow state rate regulation.
“Throughout the hearing, you provided troubling answers that suggested that the NTIA would permit rate regulation by States participating in the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program,” they told Davidson, according to a copy of the letter supplied to Multichannel News. “These answers are concerning as they suggest that the NTIA is administering this program in violation of the law.”
Republicans have long been concerned that the BEAD program was straying beyond simply subsidizing broadband where it was not available and into definitions of availability that included price, speed, quality, neutrality and equity.
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“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which created the BEAD Program, explicitly prohibits the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the NTIA from ‘regulat[ing] the rates charged for broadband service,’ ” the letter reads. “During Senate floor debate on this legislation, members of Congress agreed that this language meant that ‘no rate regulation of broadband services would be authorized or permitted by NTIA or the Assistant Secretary who leads NTIA as part of the state broadband grant program.’ ”
The letter cited the fact that California’s broadband buildout plan using BEAD funds puts a thumb on the scale for applicants who agree to make “clear and unambiguous commitment to offer a symmetrical 1 Gbps service at $50 per month to BEAD-funded locations through Priority Broadband Projects, or 100/20 Mbps at $30 per month” for other projects."
They also pointed to NTIA’s approval of Louisiana’s BEAD plan, which they said “sets rates for certain broadband plans.”
The legislators said that there appeared to be some confusion about what constituted rate regulation. If so, they wanted to clear it up for Davidson. “We define rate regulation as regulating the rate of broadband services in any way, including setting a rate, freezing rates or placing a cap on rates,” they said.
