"While it may be too early for a comprehensive assessment of the ARRA's broadband programs, it is not too early to conclude that, at least in some cases, millions of dollars in grants and loans have been made in areas where a significant majority of households already have broadband coverage," wrote study authors Jeffrey Eisenach and Kevin Caves of Navigant Economics, an analysis firm based in Chicago. "In addition, the [RUS] program creates strong disincentives to private broadband investment in the long run, as potential future investors will discount expected returns for the possibility that the government may step in, ex post, to subsidize a competitor."

Eisenach and other Navigant analysts have written several papers opposing government involvement in the telecom sector and other industries, although Eisenach has supported some broadband deployment subsidies. Eisenach was co-founder of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a think tank that has championed deregulation.