Texas gives out $1 billion to corporate internet providers as part of federal BEAD program
The state of Texas today announced the 17 internet providers (all big corporations) that it awarded $1 billion in grants under the federal government’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, ostensibly designed to help companies bring fast internet to remote rural areas, but has instead become a perfect example of crony capitalism, welfare for big corporations that don’t need the money but make the right political donations to the right politicians.
The list of companies that won awards is revealing. Rather than list them all, however, consider these three, the highest, lowest, and most well known:
- Nexstream: $401,831,807 for fiber and fixed wireless to 32,404 locations
- VTX Communications: $2,120,407 for fiber and fixed wireless to 261 locations
- Starlink: $108,787,903 for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite to 63,887 locations
In other words, Nexstream and VTX got grants of $12,400 and $8,124 for each location it provided service, while SpaceX only got $1,703, even though SpaceX by itself provided service to almost 1/4 of all the locations listed across the entire state, 63K out of 209K total. My guess is that the other companies spread the political wealth judiciously to the right people, something that SpaceX almost never does.
Even so, this distribution is far better than during the Biden administration, when it rescinded its grant to Starlink, claiming it had failed to provide any rural internet service, when in fact it was practically the only internet company successfully doing so. That rescinding occurred at almost the same time Musk revealed he was going to support the Republican Party.
Having noted this improvement, I still think this entire program is the worst sort of Washington corruption, and should be canceled. It is a waste of tax dollars — money we don’t have — going to companies that are already making huge profits from their own customers.
A side note: Five companies applied for grants and were denied, with Amazon’s Leo being the most recognizable. Amazon asked for $1.145 million, but since it hasn’t provided service yet to a single customer, its Leo constellation not yet operational, the Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO) rightly denied the request. Thank god for small blessings!
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
” . . . the other companies spread the political wealth judiciously to the right people, . . . ”
As someone asked, “How is it that politicians enter office rich; and leave wealthy?”
“Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician and I’ll show you a crook.”
Harry S Truman
Notice how we constantly hear that Social Security is going broke in 2032, but we never hear that welfare, food stamps, corporate welfare, etc are going broke?
“90,000 Haitians Live in Massachusetts and Only 10,000 Are Working”
https://revolver.news/2026/07/90000-haitians-live-in-massachusetts-and-only-10000-are-working/
James Street asked: “Notice how we constantly hear that Social Security is going broke in 2032, but we never hear that welfare, food stamps, corporate welfare, etc are going broke?”
No, I haven’t noticed, because Social Security and Medicare are programs independent of the general fund. They each have their own revenue sources that they use to fund their outlays. Social Security and Medicare can become more expensive than their revenues and go broke, but the various welfare expenses from the general fund remain intact as long as the federal government prints money to fund them.
Welfare, food stamps, corporate welfare, section eight, etc. are line items in the general budget and are funded by law. If their outlays exceed their budget, the cash flow outlays do not stop. Congress sees them as mandatory spending items. The defense budget and other expenses that we think of as mandatory are actually discretionary, according to Congress. When Congress works on a budget, they make adjustments to the discretionary spending items, because the mandatory welfare items are required by law, no matter how far over budget they go.
One would think that national defense would be mandatory — because that is one of the purposes of government — and welfare discretionary — because that is a mere add-on to government spending, but this is the way Congress thinks. Congressmen and Senators think they are rocket scientists, but they are not.*
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* I kid you not. Congress designed the SLS rocket, as though it were a Tinkertoy, which explains why it is such an expensive, rarely-flown, disastrous failure.
Mr. Z.,
You should look into the Federal “Lifeline Program,” for subsidized internet & phone. 2026 Budget is almost $3 billion. (part of which is the universal service surcharge the Feds collect.)
Basically, if you have SNAP, Medicaid, Section 8, SSI, WIC, or have received a Pell Grant, you are eligible for subsidized internet & phone service.
All those programs should be ended.
All these federal taxes and fees are a great way to set a lower limit on the price of commercial internet service.
There are a ton of great applications that work great at 128kbits per second.
the Starlink system is under 100 bucks a month for both internet and phone. And its legal to use a repeater or range extender on it if you need to reach an outer building.
Is the government trying to give off grid people free internet? Why not free internet for the rest of us.