NTIA’s “letter of credit” requirement, which would require BEAD bidders to have vast resources already in the bank before receiving a grant award, threatens to crowd out all but the best-capitalized incumbent firms. While NTIA has relaxed these restrictions somewhat in response to fierce advocacy, BEAD bidders will still need to maintain significant cash reserves to access grant funding.

Moreover, the “Build America, Buy America” mandate for many of the physical materials required for this unprecedented buildout, including scarce fiber-optic cables, could raise costs, especially for smaller companies that aren’t able to buy in the same quantity as larger, better-capitalized firms.

These burdensome requirements are not meeting the urgent and equitable outcomes President Biden has laid forth in his broadband agenda. In fact, they are paving the road for the intrusion of unscrupulous private equity firms seeking government subsidies to turn a quick profit.

Firms with a history of taking a wrecking ball to America’s lower- and middle-class. Firms that have bought swaths of homes across the country, making home ownership nearly impossible for hard-working Americans. Firms that have bought factories, fired staff and cut good-paying union jobs. Firms that have consolidated health care systems across the country, raising prices as they slash access to care. And now many of these private equity firms are looking to move into broadband and get large slices of the Biden administration’s historic investment in achieving digital equity.