In a rare move, ever heard of a state actually returning hundreds of millions of dollars it didn’t spend on a government-funded project?
It’s in Oklahoma where Oklahoma Broadband Office director Mike Sanders says that with the state soon to have 95% connectivity with broadband, his office will be $225 million under budget.
“We were given a budget initially from the Biden Administration, which was only an estimate. So, keep that in mind. Oklahoma was never given a blank check contrary to what noise is out there,” he said in a recent interview with an Oklahoma City TV station.
“That was never the case. The $225 million is what we are under budget.”
As OK Energy Today reported earlier in the week, the Broadband Office released its final proposal on $550 million in broadband expansion projects in the state as part of the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment) program launched a few years ago by the Biden administration. The funds will be awarded to 20 internet service providers to complete 70 projects.
While the Biden administration launched the broadband expansion, things changed when President Donald Trump took office.
“They said listen we want to continue to make sure all Americans are connected, but we think we can do two things better. One, we want to make sure that technology is neutral, which means satellite, fixed wireless, and fiber are all gonna be treated fairly. And that’s exactly what all 50 states and six territories did. Number one,” Sanders said in the Fox 25 interview.
“Number two, was what the administration called the Benefit of the Bargain, and obviously what that means is we can reach other unserved and underserved Oklahomans using different technology at a cheaper, cheaper cost.”
He also compared Oklahoma’s spending compared to neighboring Arkansas, a state where there was a 70% decrease in estimated spending from $1.24 billion to $308.3 million.
“The initial proposal, or the initial allocation, for Arkansas was $1.24 billion, and their final proposal is $308 million,” he said. “So if you look at Oklahoma, we fared so much better. We’re actually leading in the region with our fiber break out, with our fixed wireless, as well as our satellite.”
Other surrounding states saw dramatic declines too including Louisiana with a 63% drop from $1.35 billion to $499 million; Colorado at a 50% decline from $826.5 million to $409.1 million; Kansas at 44%, down from $451.7 million to $252.9 million; and New Mexico with a 36% drop from $675.4 million to $432.9 million.
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