Updated April 01, 2025 at 05:00 AM ET
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey last week unveiled a shake-up to a federally subsidized broadband program that gained little notice. That came as no surprise. It sounded like an unremarkable announcement about a government project receiving an extension.
But below the surface, the news marked the first instance of a state taking action at the direction of the Trump administration to upend a multi-billion-dollar pool of money to potentially benefit White House adviser Elon Musk.
For the past four years, states including West Virginia have been working with the federal government to finalize plans to extend underground fiber-optic cables to the estimated 22 million Americans without at-home internet.
But the Trump administration is overhauling the $42 billion federal grant program known as Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program to be "tech neutral," meaning open to satellite internet service. This comes despite telecommunications experts insisting that fiber is the fastest, more affordable way to connect underserved communities.
Republicans in Washington counter that companies including Musk's Starlink satellite company were excluded from the grants under former President Joe Biden. And the program's redesign is aimed at fixing that. In the eyes of Democrats and Musk critics, the push from the White House looks like a handout to the tech mogul.
West Virginia, in its announcement, said White House officials have given the state 90 days to evaluate the most efficient ways to connect residents in remote areas with fast internet service, including satellite options.
Morrisey's office did not respond to a request for comment from NPR.
To Evan Feinman, who ran the federal broadband grant program in the Commerce Department under Biden, the move makes little sense.
"West Virginia was ahead of schedule, under budget and ready to provide excellent connections for every West Virginian home and business. How can anyone go back and say, 'Let's go back to the drawing board'?" said Feinman, who stepped down from his role running the broadband initiative earlier this month.
"It's hard to identify any sensible case for upending these plans based on the technology or the economics," Feinman said.
Telecom expert: How much money will Musk get?
The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, also known as BEAD, which was authorized by Congress when lawmakers passed the 2021 infrastructure bill, has received blowback from many corners over its slow pace.
When President Trump went on the Joe Rogan podcast just before the November election, the two shared a moment expressing shock that BEAD has not yet connected a single household.
Had Musk's Starlink been tapped to connect those without high-speed internet access, he could've had it done already, Rogan said. "He wanted to do that," Trump added, referring to Musk.
So when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced earlier this month that the Trump administration would be revamping the program, industry experts believed this was a gift to Musk.
"How much money can he get? How much money can he prevent a competitor from getting?" said Blair Levin, a telecom policy analyst at the Brookings Institution. "If the decision is made on the basis of politics, it will cost the country for decades to come."
That's because traditional fiber broadband, Levin said, is speedier, cheaper and generally more stable than satellite internet like Starlink. He said satellite service is quite effective for households in remote areas with no other options.
"Satellite internet is like a dirt road, fiber internet is like a highway," said Drew Garner with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. "You can build a few houses off a dirt road, but you can build hospitals, schools, businesses and entire cities off a highway."
Starlink, which is owned by Musk's SpaceX, is a system that uses a small antenna atop a house to connect to a constellation of satellites in orbit.
A Starlink plan comparable to high-speed fiber service is about $120 a month, with the hardware costing about $400. Because of the cost of setting up a satellite network, there are only a handful of serious rivals, none of which have had Starlink's focus on the consumer market.
Some of the frustration with BEAD's glacial pace is understandable and shared across the political spectrum, Levin said.
Liberal political commentator Ezra Klein appeared on comedian Jon Stewart's podcast and explained in detail the 14-step process states had to go through to receive federal funding, with Stewart appearing astounded.
"I'm speechless," Stewart said. "The fact that they amputated their own legs on this is so stunning."
Musk, typically not a fan of Klein or Stewart, shared a video clip of the back-and-forth on his account on X, which has been viewed nearly 30 million times.
Even Feinman, who oversaw the initiative, said he wishes construction had begun already, but he argues the Trump administration's changes will only fuel further delay.
"I'm sympathetic to the argument that the program should've gone faster," Feinman said. "But the program went too slowly does not lead logically to, 'We should then slow the program down more so we can provide worse connections at a higher end-user cost.'"
Trump's pick to oversee BEAD says it's a victim of "woke social agenda"
The new person Trump tapped to make decisions over this big pool of money is Arielle Roth, an adviser to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
She once said this $42 billion grant program had "extreme tech bias in favor of fiber," and that the program had been a victim of a "woke social agenda," a reference to provisions of the program that encourage states to select companies with racially diverse workforces or firms backed by unions. Those rules are expected to end under Commerce Secretary Lutnick.
At Roth's Senate confirmation hearing last week, Democrats pushed her to commit to not turning the broadband program into a subsidy for Musk's business empire.
"If I'm fortunate to be confirmed, I will administer the program to the benefit of the American people, not any single individual or company," Roth told lawmakers. Her confirmation vote has not yet been scheduled.
During the hearing, Cruz said billionaire Musk did not get a fair shake when the program started.
"The Biden administration, I think, engaged in petulant and partisan politics by blacklisting Elon Musk and Starlink, which is technology that could have connected particularly households in distant rural places," Cruz said.
With Musk now a top adviser in the White House, telecom analysts like Garner say if Starlink wins a big slice of the federal program, "America's taxpayers' money are going to pay Elon Musk to give Americans expensive and slow internet service when they could have had fast and affordable internet service."
Like most of Musk's other companies, SpaceX does not have a communications department. Neither Musk nor the Commerce Department returned requests for comment.
The BEAD program may be the largest sum of federal money Starlink will soon be able to tap, but it is not the only source.
The Federal Communications Commission is now headed by outspoken Musk supporter Brendan Carr. He often champions Musk's companies on X and has posed in photos with Musk. And he once said the Biden administration has subjected Musk to "regulatory harassment."
In 2023, the Biden FCC turned down Starlink for a nearly $900 million rural broadband contract after initially awarding Starlink the money. Carr disagreed with the course reversal, criticizing that move as "a clear error" that will cause even more delays.
Under Carr, the FCC could revisit this decision.
Garner, the broadband expert, said Starlink did not receive the money at the time because fiber optic technology is faster, more affordable and requires less maintenance.
"You do essentially have to rebuild the Starlink network every five years because satellites are constantly falling out of the sky," he said.
And then there is radio spectrum: the invisible highways for all wireless communication.
Starlink will be asking the FCC for more of it. If it prevails, Starlink could land a major edge over other satellite companies.
NPR reached out to five Starlink rivals, but none would agree to an interview.
Levin with Brookings said this is because of a culture of fear. "Everyone is reluctant to attack Musk or to attack the president right now," he said.
Levin said companies worry about retaliation from the White House, which this month began to receive Starlink internet service.
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