NTIA Approves First Group of BEAD Final Proposals
Randy Sukow
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Earlier this week, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved 15 states’ proposals for distribution of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funds toward broadband network construction. The announcement moves those states closer to receiving funds. States on the approval list include Louisiana, Wyoming, Iowa, Georgia, Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, South Carolina, North Dakota, Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
A few days later, the agency approved the Texas proposal. Together with plans from American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, NTIA has now approved 19 proposals.
In statements accompanying the announcements, the Trump Administration alluded to the new rules for the BEAD program, called “Benefit of the Bargain,” which it implemented last summer to streamline earlier Biden Administration rules. Rather than emphasizing the total funds going out to states, the administration is celebrating the “savings” compared to the funds BEAD would have spent under the old rules. NTIA estimates that it has saved about $8 billion on the first 19 approved proposals and ultimately will approve $21 billion in savings.
In October, NTIA had announced provisional awards for 49 out of 50 states totaling less than half of the $41 billion originally allocated to the states. The administration claims that encouraging more applicants to deploy satellite and fixed wireless services rather than fiber networks, along with other reforms, will result in universal broadband access at much less cost.
“We are delivering the Benefit of the Bargain through the BEAD program that best serves the interests of the American people,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “After stripping away burdensome rules and regulations and wasteful requirements, taxpayers will save billions in unnecessary costs while connecting those in need to high-speed broadband through the full spectrum of broadband technologies.”
Even with NTIA now closer to distributing funds for rural broadband, many regulatory issues lie ahead. NRTC members participating in the program may register today for BEAD Rollout: Next Steps & Insights. Teresa Ferguson, NRTC’s senior director, Broadband and Infrastructure Funding, will lead the one-hour webinar featuring panelists from Minnesota, Missouri, and Virginia state broadband offices. The webinar begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
NTIA has approved the final proposals for 19 states and territories in the BEAD program for broadband network construction. The Trump Administration estimates that the early approvals will result in $8 billion in savings compared to the amount that would have been awarded under Biden Administration BEAD announced last summer. NRTC has scheduled a webinar, BEAD Rollout: Next Steps & Insights, for 1 p.m. Eastern, Dec. 2, to assist participating NRTC members through the regulatory issues that still lie ahead.
Update: Tuesday, 2, 2025:
You can view a recording of the Dec. 2 BEAD Rollout webcast here.
