WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has announced that it would overhaul a $42 billion federal grant program aimed at expanding high-speed internet to the nation, including the easing of some rules that could benefit Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink.

The program will be revamped to “take a tech-neutral approach” in its distribution of funds to states, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement Wednesday. The program’s rules — created during the Biden administration — previously favored broadband lines made of fiber-optic cables attached to homes.

“The department is ripping out the Biden administration’s pointless requirements,” Lutnick said. The Commerce Department also will remove regulatory and other barriers that slow down construction and connection to households, he said.

Congress created the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program in 2021 to extend broadband to the most remote areas of the nation.

The Commerce Department came up with standards and rules for states and territories applying for the funds — including the preference for fiber-optic broadband, which provides the fastest internet service speeds.

Musk, a close adviser to President Donald Trump who is helping to lead a government efficiency initiative, is CEO of SpaceX, the rocket company that makes Starlink.

Starlink uses low-altitude satellites to beam internet service to dishes anywhere on the planet and then to devices. It serves nearly 5 million subscribers worldwide and was used by emergency responders late last year in North Carolina when communications networks shut down after a hurricane.

The Commerce Department’s internet program has not yet disbursed any funds, and Republicans have used it as an example of a program that was slowed down by red tape.

Some have accused the Biden administration of unfairly blocking Starlink from the grants and say the satellite service can immediately serve some of the most remote areas of the nation.

In 2023, the Federal Communications Commission rejected Starlink’s application for almost $900 million in subsidies in a separate rural broadband program, saying the company failed to show it could meet service requirements for the funding.

Brendan Carr, then a Republican FCC commissioner and now chair of the agency, opposed that decision and said the action had put the FCC on a “growing list of administrative agencies that are taking action against Elon Musk’s businesses.”

On Wednesday, some public interest groups expressed concern that Lutnick’s plans to change the broadband program could directly benefit Musk.

“Fiber broadband is widely understood to be better than other internet options — like Starlink’s satellites — because it delivers significantly faster speeds,” said Drew Garner, a policy director for the nonprofit Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.