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A group of 16 House Republicans have signed a letter demanding answers following the testimony of Alan Davidson, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
More than a dozen house Republicans have joined the congressional chairs of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and have called on the NTIA to confirm whether they plan to approve initial BEAD proposals that include rate regulation measures.
The call was made in a letter signed Dec. 15, which was addressed to Alan Davidson, an assistant secretary at the NTIA.
Davidson previously testified Dec. 5 at the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, at a hearing titled “Oversight of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration,” according to the letter signed by House Republicans.
The letter labeled Davidson’s Dec. 5 testimony as “extremely problematic” and expressed concern that the NTIA “will approve state plans that include rate regulation.”
“Because there appears to be confusion about the definition of rate regulation, 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,” the letter stated.
House Republicans argued that Davidson’s answers on Dec. 5 suggest that the NTIA is administering the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program in violation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
House Republicans wrote that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which created the BEAD Program, prohibits the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the NTIA from ‘regulating the rates charged for broadband service.’
“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 stated.
The letter, signed by House Republicans like Neal Dunn (R-FL) and John Curtis (R-UT), also voiced concern that some states “have submitted initial proposals to NTIA that include some form of rate regulation.”
“For example, California will award points applicants that make ‘a 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,” the letter stated. “As we have said before, NTIA’s approval of state plans that include rate regulation is NTIA regulating rates in violation of the IIJA.”
On the same day the letter to the NTIA was signed by House Republicans, Louisiana was announced as the first state to have their initial proposal for the BEAD program approved by the NTIA.
The announcement marked the first of 56 states and territories that will seek approval for their initial BEAD proposals, all hoping for their share of $42.45 billion in state grants authorized for the BEAD program.
