Connected Nation Expands Tracker as States Reach Major BEAD Program Milestone

As the nation marks a major milestone in the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, Connected Nation’s (CN) BEAD Tracker has expanded—now incorporating critical data from 96% of the states and U.S. territories participating in the $42.5 billion federal program.

Of the 56 states and U.S. territories eligible for BEAD funding, the anticipated 54 have submitted their final proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), representing a collective $20.02 billion in federal investments.

To date, the NTIA has approved 32 proposals, including those from Alabama, Texas, and Guam. Following the final round of NTIA curing, locations to be served by fiber were reduced by approximately 30,000, resulting in an estimated $497.4 million decrease in deployment costs.

"The 'Benefit of the Bargain' forced every state and U.S. territory to reassess how they were spending their federal broadband funds. We are now seeing the results of that," said Colin Reilly, VP, Data Strategy & Technical Services, CN.

CN’s BEAD Tracker—updated with all NTIA-approved initial and final submissions to date—captures data to nearly 4 million broadband-serviced locations across the country. The tool compiles and standardizes state BEAD final proposals, highlighting how each state and U.S. territory plans to use its BEAD allocation.

Source: Connected Nation

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