LINCOLN — Advocates for rural Nebraska and telecommunications companies are expressing disappointment and some condemnation over the decision to propose spending only $43.8 million of the $405 million in federal money awarded to the state to expand high-speed internet “for all.”

These “provisional” awards by the Nebraska Broadband Office that Gov. Jim Pillen created raise the prospect that $350 million in unspent funds awarded to the state under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Act could be returned to Washington, D.C., and not spent here.

It also means, some advocates said, that up to 10,000 locations in rural Nebraska will settle for less-reliable satellite or wireless internet service instead of the top-of-the-line broadband delivered via fiber optic cables. “If there were a trophy for squandering opportunity, Nebraska would already have it on the shelf,” said Emily Haxby, a Gage County Board member who has been a leader in seeking better internet service in her county and elsewhere.

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