Looming Cuts in Broadband Grants Threaten North Dakota Connectivity
A proposed federal overhaul could pull back up to $21 billion from state broadband grants, putting North Dakota’s fiber plans at risk, according to budget discussions circulating in Washington and industry briefings reviewed by Bismarck Local. Any reduction would ripple through the state’s allocation under the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, or BEAD, which funds most of the last-mile builds planned for rural counties starting in 2026, per state planning timelines published by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on its Internet for All portal.
North Dakota’s buildout window is tight. States are sequencing engineering, permitting, and construction across 2025–2028, and funding uncertainty can delay contract awards and drive up costs, according to NTIA’s BEAD guidance and state implementation schedules posted on Internet for All. For Burleigh and Morton counties, that means projects targeting farmsteads, river breaks, and reservation-adjacent areas could slip a season or more.
For Bismarck-Mandan families and employers, the stakes are practical. Hospitals leaning on telehealth, retailers processing payments, and students relying on online coursework all depend on reliable connections that many rural and edge-of-city neighborhoods still lack, local business groups and school officials have repeatedly noted. A sudden cut would not strand the city core, but it could prolong the daily workarounds for ranchers south of Mandan and small shops along the Highway 83 corridor when service falters.
How Federal Policy Got Here
When the Trump administration last held office (2017–2021), federal broadband policy shifted toward streamlining permits and emphasizing private investment, including the launch of USDA’s ReConnect grants and loans, while the Federal Communications Commission reclassified broadband as a Title I information service, reducing certain regulatory obligations. Those moves aimed to spur builds by cutting red tape, supporters argued at the time, while critics said they reduced oversight and left affordability gaps.
The current push to trim or repurpose infrastructure accounts under a renewed Trump administration has revived those themes—speed up spending, claw back unobligated balances, and narrow eligible uses—according to federal budget watchers and trade press summaries of early agency guidance. BEAD, created later by the 2021 infrastructure law, is now caught in that review because much of its $42.45 billion is not yet fully obligated to specific projects, NTIA materials show on Internet for All.
North Dakota enters this moment with relatively strong middle-mile fiber but persistent last-mile gaps in sparsely populated areas. The FCC’s National Broadband Map still shows thousands of unserved and underserved locations scattered across the state—especially in rural townships, reservation communities, and badlands terrain—based on the latest carrier-reported coverage data available via the FCC Broadband Map. Those are precisely the spots BEAD is designed to reach first.
Impact on Local Communities and the Bismarck Economy
Cuts or delays would concentrate pain in places where crews have yet to trench fiber: southern Morton and Burleigh counties, stretches of Emmons and Oliver, and river-adjacent pockets where terrain complicates installs. In tribal areas along the Missouri River and to the south, project pipelines are especially sensitive to continuity of federal awards, as local providers and anchor institutions braid grants, loans, and tribal funds to make builds pencil out, according to state planning summaries on NTIA’s site.
In the capital city, the effect is about capacity and resilience more than first connections. Health systems in Bismarck rely on video consults and remote monitoring; outages or constrained upstream bandwidth can force clinicians back to phone calls and delay care. Retailers—from Kirkwood Mall storefronts to independent shops downtown—depend on high-uptime internet for point-of-sale and inventory. Bismarck State College and the University of Mary deliver substantial online coursework; students in Lincoln or rural Mandan who remain on fixed wireless with evening slowdowns face a tangible disadvantage, local educators have stressed in public meetings.
Residents still have tools. Households can verify whether they are marked “served” or “unserved” and file corrections on the FCC Broadband Map, a process that can move addresses back into eligibility for grant-funded builds. With the Affordable Connectivity Program now lapsed, per the FCC’s notice at fcc.gov/acp, families should check with local providers about low-cost plans and device programs or use the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library’s public Wi‑Fi and computer access for interim needs.
Perspectives and Reactions
State broadband planners and local economic development leaders have emphasized predictability over ideology: construction seasons, contractor availability, and supply chains are scheduled months ahead, and uncertainty pushes bids higher and slows progress, according to briefings shared with chambers of commerce and city councils. Provider cooperatives and regional ISPs that serve central North Dakota likewise caution that mid-stream policy changes can jeopardize bank financing that depends on multi-year federal awards.
Community advocates point to affordability and homework gaps. Even where service is technically available near Bismarck, the loss of the ACP discount hit low-income households hard; school districts and libraries became the backstop, as the FCC’s ACP wind-down page acknowledges at fcc.gov/acp. Tribal leaders across the Great Plains have also argued in federal consultations that BEAD and related programs should prioritize persistent unserved areas and support tribally led builds—positions reflected in NTIA’s emphasis on unserved-first eligibility on Internet for All.
Industry groups, for their part, support faster permitting and streamlined make-ready rules but warn that abrupt funding cuts would shrink the project pipeline in high-cost terrain. Local business groups, including the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber EDC, have repeatedly tied broadband reliability to workforce attraction and remote-work readiness, themes they elevate in member briefings and advocacy on bismarckmandan.com.
Future Scenarios and State Responses
If federal cuts move ahead, North Dakota could sequence projects more slowly, shift more costs to loan programs like USDA’s ReConnect, or prioritize a smaller set of high-cost rural builds first, per common NTIA contingency approaches. The state could also lean on remaining American Rescue Plan and Capital Projects Fund dollars, if available, and deploy “dig once” strategies with the North Dakota Department of Transportation to lower trenching costs on scheduled road work.
Lawmakers meet in regular session in odd-numbered years, but the state has tools between sessions. The Emergency Commission can accept and allocate federal dollars; agencies can also adjust grants and subawards under existing authority. Residents and local officials can monitor grant timelines and comment periods through the North Dakota Information Technology Department’s broadband page at ndit.nd.gov, and providers can coordinate with the Public Service Commission on pole attachments and right-of-way issues at psc.nd.gov.
What to Watch
Federal budget activity: Watch for formal rescission language and agency guidance that clarifies whether BEAD and related programs face across-the-board reductions or targeted trims. Any change will trigger updated NTIA timelines.
State timelines: The North Dakota broadband office will update application windows and construction schedules if federal allocations change; look for notices on ndit.nd.gov. Residents can continue to correct FCC map entries at broadbandmap.fcc.gov to keep locations eligible.
