Trump admin halts broadband internet expansion in Louisiana

Many rural Louisianans who were promised access to fiber internet may be out of luck.

Recent changes to the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, originally set to grant Louisiana $1.3 billion for fiber expansion, will reverse the Biden administration’s fiber-first approach, and with it, the fiber expansion as planned in rural Louisiana.

Louisiana was set start dispersing the grant funds this year through the GUMBO 2.0 program, as the first state to get its BEAD deployment plan approved by the federal government.

However, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s revamped guidance, announced last week, has stripped the federal approval, setting Louisiana back several steps from a plan to connect the whole state.