Network cables are pictured plugged in a server room. Oklahoma’s Broadband Office unveiled a proposal to use federal grant money to help connect Oklahomans to high-speed internet. (Photo by Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images)(This image cannot be republished without a Getty subscription.)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Critics are panning a proposal to return $225 million in federal grants earmarked to expand broadband access, saying it would be wrong to send back any funding while Oklahomans across the state continue to struggle to access it.
But the head of the state’s broadband office said everyone who was expected to be served by the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program will still have access as promised. Changes made by the Trump administration in how a key federal program can be implemented means it costs substantially less to connect Oklahomans to broadband access.
Oklahoma was initially allocated $797 million from the federal grant program to connect Oklahomans to high-speed internet. The Oklahoma Broadband Office unveiled its final proposal for using the funding and is seeking public feedback. Because of changes to what technology can be used for broadband expansion projects, costs are estimated to be $225 million lower than expected, which is equivalent to more than a quarter of the total allocation, a state official said.
Former Oklahoma Rep. Logan Phillips, R-Mounds, said returning these funds is a “slap in the face” to those who spent years creating the Broadband Office and amounts to a “failure” of its mission to connect all Oklahomans to high speed internet. He helped create the Oklahoma Broadband Office during his time in the Legislature.
Mike Sanders, executive director of the Broadband Oklahoma Office, is pictured. (Photo by Ylleana Berryhill/Oklahoma Voice)
“The reality is, even if we’ve covered the whole state in one technology, we can upgrade the other ones and prepare ourselves for the next economic and industrial revolution that requires these infrastructure lines,” he said. “This was a once in a 100 year opportunity for Oklahoma to actually get this funding. It’s a tremendous amount of effort from a whole lot of people, and we’re just sending it back.”
Other states will be allocated Oklahoma’s $225 million if it’s sent back, Phillips said.
“This money was earmarked specifically for us,” he said. “We do not have fiber to the home in every location. Our businesses are unsecured. Our rural communities are not connected.”
Mike Sanders, executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office, said returning the funding doesn’t mean that Oklahomans won’t get connected to the internet. It’s that officials don’t need as much money to do it as initially estimated.
“The same number of people will be served in the state of Oklahoma,” Sanders said. “The remaining toughest, hardest places to get, and that’s about 40,000 Oklahomans, will still be served. It will just be with different technology, and at a cost savings of $225 million.”
He said under the initial program developed during the Biden administration, the funding prioritized fiber-optic broadband technology. When President Donald Trump took office, his administration eliminated that “preferred technology,” meaning that states could instead use more cost-effective means like satellite, fixed wireless and other less expensive technologies.
He said they’ve already selected the projects, but those must be approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
By October 2026, the Broadband Office expects 95% of Oklahomans to be connected by broadband, Sanders said, with many of those projects funded by money from the American Rescue Plan Act. The remaining 5% of the state will be covered using the funding from the BEAD program and funding.
“I am cautiously optimistic that NTIA will follow our state’s lead because I do believe this is a very, very well built plan and final proposal,” he said. “But you know, again, the decision is not ours.”
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He said his agency will still fund fiber optic projects if it’s the best use of the federal dollars, but in the most difficult to reach areas, which includes large swathes of rural Oklahoma, officials can focus on other technologies, which results in the expected cost savings.
Under the office’s proposal, 65% of BEAD projects will use fiber-optic technology, 20% will be fixed wireless and 15% will use satellite technology, Sanders said.
He said Oklahoma is not the only state that plans to return funding. About $42.4 billion was allocated nationwide with the goal of connecting all Americans to high-speed internet.
Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, said Oklahoma’s government should be working with companies to have more “solution oriented” conversations about broadband. He said some constituents he’s talked to have found internet connection themselves through satellite services, like Elon Musk’s Starlink.
His district includes areas of Oklahoma the Broadband Office has identified as having low percentages of Oklahomans served with broadband access.
“If we expect to draw people to Oklahoma, and we want to build business and we want to build a better economy,” Humphrey said. “People are not going to come to places they can’t get broadband, that they can’t get internet.”
He said Oklahoma isn’t getting its “bang for our buck” when it comes to broadband.
“We should not be looking at returning $225 million,” he said. “We should be looking at what we are getting for that money.”
The proposal is open to public comment until Sept. 1 before it is sent to NTIA. People can submit public comment by emailing BEAD@broadband.ok.gov.