Investment Reduces the Number of Eligible BEAD Locations

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law on November 15, 2021, included $42.45 billion for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding program, which was intended by Congress to deploy broadband to unserved and underserved communities across the nation.  None of those funds were allocated during the remainder of the Biden presidency, and on June 6, 2025, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) revised the onerous requirements imposed by the prior administration, which resulted in a new round of proposals for funding that totaled $20.15 billion.

A September 9, 2026, BroadbandExpanded blog post published by the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute (ACLP) of the New York Law School reported that the number of eligible locations for BEAD fell by 69 percent since it was originally allocated.  The blog post noted that both private investment and federal broadband programs have been deploying broadband during the time it has taken for BEAD funds to finally be allocated, which led to fewer unserved and underserved locations.

This means that previously eligible locations are now being served, were determined to be no longer serviceable, or are covered by a federal program other than BEAD, meaning they no longer qualify for BEAD funding.  The blog post suggested that local, state, and federal broadband funding programs should review the existing maps used for funding opportunities to ensure that the remaining 5 percent of unserved locations can be provided with service.  The authors estimated that under BEAD Round Two, “1,041,099 locations will appear on NTIA’s supplemental lists.”  It would cost between $5.3 billion to $8.8 billion, which would bring the savings to between $12.2 billion to $15.7 billion.

The good news for taxpayers is two-fold.  The Trump administration eliminated the non-statutory requirements that the Biden administration created for the BEAD program, and broadband was deployed to locations across the country through private investment and other broadband programs, bringing the country even closer to closing the digital divide.