The chairman of the biggest broadband programme in US history emailed his coworkers on March 16 to say goodbye. He also warned that if regulations were changed to favor Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider , millions of rural Americans might experience slower online speeds.
His farewell message to coworkers, which was first reported by ProPublica’s Craig Silverman in a Bluesky article, raises the concern over proposed changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment software, most notably moving from a fiber-first view to one that favors satellite internet.
This is one thing we were going to do best by remote America, and it seems to be fading away, Feinman said in an interview with CNET. There is not a lot of day left to avoid making that error, but there is still time to avoid it.
Feinman served as the director of Ring, a$ 42. 5 billion bank established as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, up until March 16. According to Freimand, the Trump presidency has declined to renew his contract.
If BEAD’s rules are changed to convey satellite connections, Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service has a lot to gain. Although only two prototype satellites are already in the sky, compared to over 7, 000 for Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper is officially available for financing from the system. ( Geostationary satellite internet providers like Hughesnet and Viasat are not permitted to receive BEAD funding because they do not meet the latency standards. )
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is a division of the Department of Commerce, distributes BEAD’s funds to each position. The NTIA evidently favored deploying grain to remote areas under Biden’s administration, which is commonly accepted as the gold standard net connection type.
According to a report released by The Wall Street Journal, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick intends to view Ring more “technology-neutral.” Starlink would gain an additional$ 10 billion to$ 20 billion from the$ 4.1 billion it was anticipated to receive under the old rules.  ,
” Some of the frightful scenarios that people close to the NTIA and the Commerce Department have been hearing about would give Elon Musk at least 50 % of the money,” said Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband, CNET.
Grain costs a lot in many places. In a previous interview, a Texas Comptroller director claimed that some rural communities in West Texas would have to pay as much as$ 130, 000 to connect to fiber.
Blair Levin, a former FCC chief of staff and an analyst for the telecommunication industry at New Street Research, told CNET that” Lutnick apparently believes, like Trump and like Musk, that paying for grain is wasted money.”
Where the NTIA determines the amount of Ring income Starlink will be able to receive. A source informed me that the price level for fibers in the , a bill introduced in the House earlier in March, was originally$ 25, 000 per site, but that was later removed. The country’s broadband office would be able to move to “alternative systems” including Starlink if an area exceeded that amount.  ,
According to Feinman, rural America may be greatly harmed by the switch from grain to satellite.
It is unacceptable to abandon a group of communities to worsening informative outcomes, worsening economic outcomes, and worsening health outcomes in order to either subsidize a political ally or mislead CNET, according to Feinman.  ,
This is due to two factors: value and speed with Starlink’s services. It’s not demonstrated its ability to meet BEAD’s rate standards, and it’s also significantly more expensive than most online operators at$ 120 per month in most places.
CNET’s requests for comment were not promptly responded to by Starlink or Commerce Department representatives.  ,
Is Starlink advance in the future?
Starlink’s speeds, according to critics, don’t meet the BEAD speed standards for 20 Mbps send, 100 Mbps download, and 100 Mbps overhead. Latency is the only requirement that Starlink is already meeting, and it’s still considerably worse than the average US.
It’s just throwing money down the toilet, Sohn said,” This is a once-in-a-lifetime investment in broadband and to give it to expensive, slow service that’s not robust, that’s not future-proof.”
According to Ookla files, Starlink’s speeds have typically decreased over time, dropping from 105Mbps in December of that year to 79Mbps . Ookla is owned by the same family business as CNET, Ziff Davis.
Starlink has launched dozens of satellite launches since its launch in 2019 and added millions of new customers. Yet as Starlink sent thousands of more satellites into the sky, speeds have dropped, making it presently absent for customers in many US cities.
Levin said,” I’m not sure Lutnick is aware of this.” Starlink is on a waiting list. Because they are out of power, they have a waiting list.
Starlink has publicly stated that its new satellites will address the capacity issues, particularly if millions of more homes are connected via BEAD, but it hasn’t demonstrated that they will.  ,
You rarely use less than you used yesterday, according to Feinman, who is certain about how people use data and processing power.
That tracks according to a rule of thumb that I’ve heard a lot of about when I’ve been covering bandwidth. According to Nielsen’s rules, a high-end internet user’s connection rate increases by about 50 % annually, doubled every 21 times. This has been the case every year since 1983, and Feinman is particularly concerned about it. Starlink may be able to control applications in the future, even though it hasn’t demonstrated it by the FCC’s description.  ,  ,
Feinman and I discussed how Starlink has helped remote areas that were lacking elsewhere in the past. However, Feinman warned that expanding Starlink assistance through BEAD may reduce capacity in those areas where it truly is the only option.
What comes next for Ring?
Right then, a lot of things are changing for BEAD. In the next week or two, Lutnick is expected to release guidelines for modifying the system, which helps explain some of the urgency in Feinman’s message.  ,
Individuals must speak with their representatives in Congress without delay. They need to contact their president’s practices, Feinman told CNET. And those rulers and people of the Trump administration must be courageous enough to declare,” We want to get the best relationship possible on resources for our areas,” according to the statement.
The 5 Calls app can be downloaded from the or store if you want to speak with your elected representatives about changes to the BEAD program. The app gathers phone numbers for their offices, gathers information on various issues, and creates scripts for them.