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BEAD UPDATE OCTOBER 2025
- This is about our work - The Trump Administration’s NTIA gave away our work to Elon Musk’s STARLINK.
- The BEAD program, funded by taxpayer dollars, was set to fund deployment of fiber to un and underserved areas. In order to get the work, companies had to meet labor standards and commit to fiber – all things that would have ensured Verizon won big.
- But in June, the NTIA completely changed all the rules: got rid of the fiber preference, the labor standards, and required States to choose the lowest cost bidder.
- Now, because of this, in NYS, Starlink is getting 25% of the work, and Verizon is only getting 7.5%.
Elections have consequences: this Administration hurt us.
- Because of this Administration, our members lost out on a significant amount of work.
- Funding that should have been awarded to fiber buildout and good jobs is instead being used to line the pockets of the richest man in the world - Elon Musk.
CWA’s political power was important - it could have been worse. Due to our work on prevailing wage, subcontractors were unable to undercut us on labor costs, ensuring that Verizon remained competitive on fiber projects. We also successfully leveraged political relationships to support Verizon’s bids - for example, Verizon won all of the work in Ulster County.
The NTIA now has to approve NY’s plan and could potentially require rebidding. Sign the petition below to tell the NTIA to reinstate the fiber preference and labor standards for high-quality, high-speed broadband and good jobs.
http://action.cwa.org/petitions/fiber
Download:
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