OKLAHOMA CITY – As speculation mounted about the prospects of broadband funding being “clawed back” or cut nationally, leaders of the Oklahoma Broadband Office were asked whether they’re concerned.
But they weren’t talking. “Thanks for checking, but we’re not weighing in on this one,” responded Tim Allen, communications director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office.
Questions posed by OK Energy Today were:
• Is the director worried about a serious cut in funding for Oklahoma’s broadband expansion programs?
• With President Trump’s cost-cutting efforts, does the director believe there might not be as much federal funding for the Oklahoma Broadband Office?
• Has the director been in communication with any federal officials regarding any possible concern for a loss in broadband funds for Oklahoma?
• Have Oklahomans in areas where broadband projects were initiated in the past few months actually received enhanced broadband service? If so, how many and where?
Federal Communications Commission director Brendan Carr is leading some of the cost-cutting reviews of broadband funding, or BEAD, which stands for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment. He’s taking some serious looks at the $42.5 billion handed out by the Biden administration to develop broadband service into rural areas of the nation, including the unserved areas of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma’s share of BEAD funds totaled $797.4 million in 2023.
As recently as September 2024, the Oklahoma Broadband Office approved more than $158 million to expand affordable high-speed internet service to nearly 28,000 homes and businesses in the state.
Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act Capital Projects Fund, the broadband board gave unanimous approval to 50 grants with 12 internet service providers (ISPs) for projects in 28 counties. The grants will be coupled with more than $109 million in matching funds from the ISPs.
Gov. Kevin Stitt took part in an official launch in December of a $65.9 million high-speed internet expansion project in southern Oklahoma involving internet service provider Hilliary.
The projects, funded through $43.2 million in federal grants administered by the OBO, will be coupled with $22.8 million in matching funds from companies under the Hilliary brand, including, Medicine Park Telephone, Oklahoma Fiber Network, Oklahoma Western Telephone, Phoenix Long Distance, Southern Plains Cable, Southwest Oklahoma Telephone, and Texhoma Fiber. The Hilliary family also owns OK Energy Today and Southwest Ledger.
FCC Director Carr is likely to work with Republican legislators to streamline and consolidate federal broadband funding programs, including BEAD, which Republicans have criticized as duplicative, delayed (no BEAD funds were disbursed by the end of the Biden administration), over-regulated, and ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) has stated that Republicans across government are “prepared to put the country on a new course,” away from the Biden administration’s broadband funding approach, and is signaling that Congress will likely seek to claw back the $42.5 billion allocated to the BEAD program.