Fiber for Breakfast Week 10: Mission Accomplished — or Just Getting Started?

Fiber for Breakfast Week 10: Mission Accomplished — or Just Getting Started?

When Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the promise was bold: finally close the digital divide. Through the BEAD program, tens of billions of dollars would flow to states to ensure every American could access reliable broadband. Now that states have finalized their plans and the first projects are moving toward construction, the natural question is: did the program accomplish its mission?

On this week’s Fiber for Breakfast, Gary Bolton asked one of the country’s leading broadband policy experts, Carol Mattey, to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Her answer was simple: it’s far too early to declare victory.

Mattey has spent decades working on federal broadband programs — from helping shape the National Broadband Plan to implementing the Connect America Fund at the FCC. And if there’s one lesson history has taught her, it’s that “universal service” is never a finished project.

Standards evolve. Technology advances. Consumer expectations shift.

The broadband benchmark written into the BEAD program — 100/20 Mbps — was established years ago. By the time many of these networks are fully deployed, Mattey noted, the market will almost certainly have moved on. Even today, data shows most consumers gravitating toward much higher service tiers.

That’s why she cautions against the idea of “mission accomplished.” Instead, BEAD should be seen as a major milestone in a much longer journey.

The good news is that the majority of BEAD funding is going towards fiber deployments — networks that can scale far beyond today’s standards. As speeds increase and applications like AI, telehealth, and cloud services demand more capacity, fiber infrastructure can evolve alongside them.

The real question lies within the margins. Some of the most remote locations will rely on alternative technologies, including low-Earth-orbit satellite services. Whether those networks can consistently deliver the experience consumers expect remains an open question, particularly as digital applications become more bandwidth intensive.

Like every federal broadband program before it, BEAD will likely see some project defaults as conditions change or deployments prove more difficult than expected. Mattey emphasized that the work already done by state broadband offices deserves real credit. Tasked with designing complex grant programs and evaluating competing technologies, many states moved faster — and more thoughtfully — than expected.

But the real test comes next. As Mattey put it, “The announcement of the awards is just the beginning of the journey. It’s not the end.”

Networks still need to be built, verified, and maintained for years to come. And even once the last BEAD-funded network is turned up, the work of universal connectivity won’t be finished. If the past two decades of broadband policy have shown anything, it’s that the target keeps moving.

Click here to watch the full interview.

Click here to view the slides.