SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Fast broadband is widely available in urban areas, but not in many rural communities. Government figures show about 1 in 5 residents don't have reliable access to the internet, and that is despite decades of efforts made to try to reach underserved areas. States were close to putting millions of dollars for broadband to use earlier this year, when the Trump administration put out new guidance. Harvest Public Media's Anna Pope has this report.
ANNA POPE, BYLINE: Antlers, Oklahoma, is a small, rural town - population just over 2,000. Kris Bailey works at the Oklahoma State University Extension office in Pushmataha County.
KRIS BAILEY: So southeast Oklahoma, we are very rural. We have small communities, which I love, beautiful country. We have a lot of timber industry, and a lot of farming.
POPE: Bailey helps connect farmers and families to educational resources and knows many of them don't have good internet. That includes Bailey's other office in a neighboring county.
BAILEY: It still is not good enough for us to upgrade our phone systems to an internet-based phone.
POPE: For years, federal and state governments have been working to expand internet connection, especially in rural communities. In 2023, Congress allocated about $42 billion for states through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program. States were gearing up to start those projects, but in June, the Trump administration pressed pause and issued new guidance.
MIKE SANDERS: We were days from announcing where we were, and then the rules changed.
POPE: Mike Sanders, the executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office, says his state's plans had to change.
SANDERS: Where we had eight to 10 months leading up to that, we had 90 days. Everything was condensed in a year's work - I kid you not - into three months.
POPE: The Trump administration wanted states to consider different types of technology and the lowest cost options.
DREW GARDNER: So we're not going to be looking at sort of the best quality network. We're going to be looking at the least expensive networks.
POPE: Drew Gardner is with the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, which advocates for reliable and affordable internet nationwide. He says fiber-optic lines have been the gold standard for years. Now, satellite and fixed wireless are playing a bigger role in state proposals. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, is the agency overseeing the program. It says Oklahoma would save about $225 million under a new plan in which about 35% of the state's broadband network would be satellite and fixed wireless. Although cheaper to install than fiber, some question whether those other technologies will be as reliable and long-lasting. In Wisconsin, Gail Huycke is the community development specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She says that state decided to lower its broadband fiber content from 93 to 73%.
GAIL HUYCKE: We're hearing from communities that are concerned as what's that going to mean for sustainability? What's that going to mean as far as in some topography areas?
POPE: Satellite and fixed wireless beam service over radio waves, which can get blocked by trees, mountains or a bad storm. But because it's cheaper, the whole BEAD program will cost less. NTIA says as states and territories submit new plans, it projects the program's price to drop $17 billion. Each state was given an initial budget amount, and now it's unclear where any leftover money will end up. Gardner says it's up to the NTIA.
= GARDNER: They are being very cagey about what they're going to let states do with that money. By law, it is the state's money. We're just waiting for NTIA to say what they can do with it.
POPE: In Oklahoma, Sanders says if the decision comes soon, the federal money will help them connect broadband in the last, toughest-to-reach places.
SANDERS: When it's all said and done, I believe Oklahoma will be very proud with the product that we have produced. However - there's a big however here - everything will now lie with NTIA.
POPE: Sanders hopes to have shovels in the ground next spring.
For NPR News, I'm Anna Pope in Antlers, Oklahoma. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
