Six states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are now fully approved under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Arielle Roth announced on Monday.
Roth said those states include Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Mississippi, and New Mexico, bringing the total of approved final BEAD proposals from states and U.S. territories to 50.
“[We are] thrilled that we’ve been able to get these over the finish line, and [we are] looking forward to completing all 56,” Roth said during remarks at the State of the Net conference in Washington.
The $42.5 billion BEAD program was established under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021. It provides broadband access grants to underserved or unserved communities through funding planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs.
To secure those funds, states must submit an NTIA-approved five-year plan and initial proposal, run a public challenge to verify coverage gaps, then file a final proposal to unlock funds for state-run subgrant awards.
Roth said that as the NTIA nears the end of BEAD approvals, it is tightening up state compliance with BEAD requirements. She pointed to Pennsylvania, which she said was using incorrect job classifications for its broadband workers and driving up costs.
“Pennsylvania is going to be required as a condition of its branch agreement with NTIA to revise its classification so that they accurately reflect the work being done, and that’s consistent with our rules,” Roth said, adding that will “promote broadband deployment within the state by lowering labor costs, and that’s going to pay dividends, not just for the program, but for broadbands across Pennsylvania.”
Last summer, the NTIA made significant changes to the BEAD program that eliminated certain requirements after the Trump administration conducted a review of the program, saying it was, at that time, unsuccessful in getting more people online.
Prior to the policy changes, the BEAD program announced it had approved plans from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five participating territories.
The Government Accountability Office, however, said last month that those policy changes were unlawful and didn’t follow correct procedures. It remains unclear how that may impact the BEAD program and funding going forward.
It is also unclear how President Donald Trump’s December executive order preempting states’ artificial intelligence (AI) laws may impact the BEAD program.
Trump’s order told the NTIA to identify “onerous” state AI laws and then issue a policy notice making states with those laws ineligible for remaining BEAD “non-deployment” dollars.
Roth on Monday called the executive order and final BEAD proposals “two separate issues.” She said that the NTIA is “looking forward to completing our tasks under that executive order as well,” and that the agency is working on a report.
States that have not yet received approval from BEAD include California, Washington, Illinois, Alaska, Nevada, and South Carolina.