Project 2025: NTIA Restructuring Threatens Rural Broadband and Spectrum Equity
Project 2025's NTIA chapter would steer federal broadband grants primarily to 5G deployment in rural and exurban areas, deprioritize fiber-optic buildout, press platforms on free speech, fast-track commercial spectrum leasing, and review FirstNet—risking a digital divide that leaves underserved communities with second-class connectivity. Under the Trump administration (inaugurated Jan 20, 2025), these proposals have not been executed but remain active blueprints for future executive action.
Project 2025's plan for the NTIA is not a neutral technology policy; it would steer federal broadband grants primarily to 5G deployment in rural and exurban areas, deprioritize fiber-optic buildout, press platforms on free speech, fast-track commercial spectrum leasing, and review FirstNet—risking a digital divide that leaves underserved communities with second-class connectivity. The chapter calls to 'reevaluate' broadband grants to prioritize 5G over fiber, which would leave communities already on the wrong side of the digital divide with slower, less reliable connections. Fiber is the gold standard for future-proof, symmetric broadband; 5G has capacity limits, higher latency, and greater vulnerability to weather and distance. Making 5G grants the priority risks treating connectivity for rural Americans as a byproduct of commercial rollout, not a public-right-of-way guarantee.
The chapter also demands an immediate review of federal online speech policy to address 'big tech's censorship of speech'—language that signals using NTIA's statutory position to pressure platforms into amplifying conservative narratives. Simultaneously, temporary leasing of federal spectrum would prioritize commercial 5G use over the needs of federal science agencies like NOAA, which rely on spectrum for weather forecasting and climate research. The push to 'fully implement' Trump's 2019 ICTS executive order could broaden supply-chain restrictions on Chinese technology but risks trade retaliation and harming U.S. firms reliant on global components. FirstNet would face a 'review for obsolescence,' threatening emergency communication for first responders.
The broader pattern is clear: policy written for the telecom industry's bottom line, not for working families or public safety. A fair-trade alternative would tie all broadband grants to enforceable labor standards (prevailing wages, union neutrality), fiber-first deployment in unserved areas, public ownership or community-anchored models to prevent monopoly pricing, and a moratorium on spectrum leases that degrade federal science missions. The fight is not yet lost—the current Trump administration has not executed these proposals—but the mandate document is in their hands. Blocking this agenda means defending NTIA's public-interest role and demanding that every broadband dollar serves workers, not just shareholders.
The humanitarian alternative
Congress should codify NTIA's broadband grant programs to require deployment of fiber or equivalent high-capacity infrastructure in underserved communities, with labor standards (Davis-Bacon wages, project labor agreements) and community benefit agreements. Spectrum leasing should be limited to non-interference with federal science and public safety, with strict public-interest criteria. FirstNet should be fully funded and modernized, not reviewed for elimination. The free-speech review should be replaced with an affirmative commitment to net neutrality and platform accountability through transparent, pro-competition rules.
Original source — excerpted
project2025 Project 2025 ch. 23: Export-Import Bank (pp 720-722)"— 687 — Department of Commerce that do not allow open access to their markets should not be setting the standards for markets that do allow open access. The incoming Administration should consider increased government-sponsored participation by private companies and government employees with relevant expertise. NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION SERVICE The independent National Telecommunications and Information Service (NTIS) is charged with ensuring that federally funded research and data are accessible to the public. NTIS operates through user fees but is largely obsolete due to modern usage of the internet by federal agencies and researchers. NTIS’s functions should be moved to NIST and consolidated with the Tech Transfer and ROI initiatives. NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) is the exec- utive branch’s statutory lead on telecommunications and information policy. It focuses on broadband access, spectrum utilization, and other issues that are crucial to the high-tech economy. For decades, NTIA has suffered from organizational malaise and will require strong and energetic…"