With Texas Approval, All States and Territories are Ready to Implement BEAD

NOTE: This article was updated on 11/27/24.

The NTIA has announced that all 50 states, plus D.C. and five territories, have had both volumes of their Initial Proposal approved.

The Initial Proposals, a requirement of the program, gave states the ability to outline their plan for using federal BEAD funds to deliver on the goals of the program, to connect unserved and underserved areas to broadband.

The Proposals were divided into two volumes, to attempt to streamline the procedure and allow certain elements to move forward.

Next steps for BEAD and the telecom industry

The next steps for states are crucial to BEAD deployments and the industry. The states now have access to BEAD funds and will begin, or have already begun, the subgrantee application process which enables ISPs and other organizations to participate in the deployments, by applying to be a broadband provider in the areas designated to be in need of access.

This means that ISPs across the country need to determine their ability (and desire) to apply to be a provider in a particular location or group of locations, and then enter a bidding process to compete for the projects.

BEAD progress

“States and territories must now submit a Final Proposal that details, among other things, the outcome of the provider selection process and how they will ensure universal broadband coverage,” the NTIA said in an announcement. “Once those Final Proposals receive NTIA approval, states can break ground on the BEAD-funded infrastructure projects that will help make their plans a reality.

The NTIA says that 16 states and territories have “finalized the homes and businesses that will be connected via BEAD-supported projects,” and that 8 have started selecting ISPs.

Louisiana

Notably, Louisiana is the first to release its Final Proposal for public comment, as the state was the first out of the gate with BEAD, and in some ways could potentially act as something of a bellwether for other entities for certain parts of the process.

As the first to have their Initial Proposal approved, Louisiana is also the first to award BEAD grants to subgrantees.

Louisiana’s awards totaled about 1.4 billion dollars, and most of the deployment funds will go to fiber projects. 450 million will go to the Louisiana Local Fiber Consortium, an entity made up of two local providers and T-Mobile.

Awardees also include AT&T, Brightspeed, Cajun Broadband, and 18 other providers. 

The NTIA has updated their BEAD Progress Dashboard and with 52 states and territories having closed their challenge process portal, there is also a link available to track challenge process progress across the country.