Awards announced, agreements executed, milestones reached — monitored daily across all 56 state and territory programs, AI-verified against official sources.
Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Darren Soto (D-FL) introduced the bipartisan FIREWALL Act (H.R. 9541) on June 30, 2026, which would permanently prohibit federal telecommunications funding, including BEAD, from being used to purchase fiber-optic cable sourced from countries of concern. Sponsors said the bill aims to avoid another costly 'rip and replace' scenario like the one used to remove Chinese telecom equipment from U.S. networks, and the bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Astound VP Fred Maldonado said the company won only 12 of 25 BEAD applications in Oregon, leaving awarded areas too far from its existing network to justify construction costs. Public records show Astound forfeited roughly $90.6 million of its Oregon award, alongside a similar decision to decline ~$166 million in Texas.
Astound VP Fred Maldonado said the company is walking away from BEAD grants in Texas after the state awarded only 5 of its 33 applications, leaving noncontiguous, uneconomical build areas. Public records show Astound forfeited about $166 million in provisional Texas awards, with rising construction costs and elapsed time since application cited as key factors. Other Texas providers, including Resound Networks, also stepped away from portions of their awards.
At a June 30 House Communications and Technology Subcommittee oversight hearing, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said guidance on how states can spend roughly $21 billion in BEAD non-deployment savings will be released "this summer," after the notice—originally expected by March 11—was delayed. Roth cited the need to proceed cautiously given heavy stakeholder interest, while declining to specify whether the funds could be withheld from states with AI regulations under a Trump executive order.
At a June 30, 2026 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth confirmed that California and Illinois are the only two of 56 eligible entities still awaiting approval of their BEAD final proposals, with NTIA's written testimony stating 54 of 56 have been approved. Roth said the 'ball is in Illinois' court' after its proposal fell short on finding efficiencies under Benefit of the Bargain principles, and said California's holdup involves 'mapping anomalies,' with 'the ball is in California's court' as well.
At a June 30, 2026 House Energy and Commerce oversight hearing, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth testified that BEAD-funded infrastructure has been deployed in two states and that the agency has approved 54 of 56 eligible entities' final proposals. Roth said the program is now expected to save roughly $21 billion versus original deployment cost projections. ISPs awaiting final approval in the remaining states should watch for movement as NTIA works to close out the last holdouts.
During a June 30, 2026 House Energy & Commerce oversight hearing, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth told lawmakers that Nebraska and Louisiana are the two states that have so far connected residents using BEAD funds, both via fixed wireless access rather than fiber. This aligns with NTIA's own press releases confirming Nebraska's first BEAD-funded household connection (Ogallala, via Vistabeam) and reports of Louisiana's Bossier/Bienville Parish connection, both using fixed wireless technology.
On June 30, 2026, the Vermont Community Broadband Board and NEK Broadband (now merged with CVFiber as NEKCV) celebrated the grand opening of the Groton Connectivity HUB, a free community technology center at 1334 Scott Highway funded by a $2.85 million USDA Community Connect Grant. The HUB offers shared workspace, computer stations, and a privacy pod for telehealth, remote work, and education, aiming to expand digital access in the highly underserved town of Groton.
On June 17, 2026, NTIA announced two new Notices of Funding Opportunity totaling $790 million for Tribal broadband: $540 million under a third round of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) and $250 million under the new Native Entities Grant Program (NEGP), funded via the Digital Equity Act's Tribal set-aside. Applications opened June 17 and close September 17, 2026, with awards expected to begin on a rolling basis starting Spring 2027; legal analysts note the programs' criteria likely favor affordability/subsidy uses that complement BEAD-funded deployments. This is separate from state BEAD allocations but is administered by NTIA as part of overall federal broadband funding priorities.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced a new public dashboard that shows how strategic state investments, including matching funds and technical assistance, have helped the state secure more than $1.3 billion in federal infrastructure funding, including broadband/BEAD dollars. The interactive dashboard tracks return on investment from the state's IIJA Cash Fund and lets users search hundreds of projects by county, congressional district, and funding category.
Oregon's broadband office said it is moving forward with most of its preliminary BEAD awards, but Astound Broadband is declining nearly $90.7 million meant to serve 11,000 homes and businesses. The refused projects were mostly pure fiber builds, with about 3,000 locations involving fixed wireless/fiber combinations.
Empire State Development's ConnectALL Office announced more than $8.3 million in awards spanning three programs: over $3.8 million through the federally funded Municipal Infrastructure Program (led by a $3.84 million award to NSN Genesee LLC to connect 21,575 locations in Genesee County), nearly $4 million through the state-funded Connectivity Innovation Business Model Innovation Awards, and nearly $600,000 through the Regional and Local Assistance Program. The awards support affordable internet models in low-income and rural areas, expand broadband in Genesee County, and fund local government broadband planning statewide.
NTIA's chief attorney publicly defended the agency's policy extending FCC pole attachment rules to BEAD subgrantees, including electric cooperatives normally exempt from such federal regulation. The defense comes amid sustained opposition from NRECA and individual co-ops, some of which have cited the rules as a reason for declining or reconsidering BEAD awards.
Louisiana executed its BEAD grant agreement with SpaceX, committing about $8.2 million for the satellite operator to serve 10,635 homes and businesses under the state's approved BEAD spending plan. This follows the state's broader BEAD implementation push.
The Arkansas State Broadband Office announced it executed a BEAD Program grant agreement with satellite provider Amazon Leo, marking the first such agreement nationally. This signals movement toward funds disbursement for LEO satellite-based broadband service in the state.
Rep. April McClain Delaney and three House colleagues sent a June 11, 2026 letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth demanding an explanation for the continued withholding of BEAD nondeployment funds, calling the delay unlawful. The letter follows NTIA's rescission of previously approved nondeployment activities under last year's BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice, with lawmakers noting states still lack guidance nearly a year later and questioning the administration's characterization of roughly $21 billion in unspent funds as 'taxpayer savings.'
Astound Broadband forfeited about $165–166 million in provisional Texas BEAD awards after the state approved only 5 of the 33 project applications it submitted, which were designed to form a single contiguous fiber route extending from its existing network into more than 30 counties. Astound VP Fred Maldonado said the partial approval left it with disconnected counties far from its footprint, making the build uneconomical, especially amid rising costs during the lengthy award process. The Texas Broadband Development Office confirmed four tentative grant winners, including Astound and Resound Networks, rescinded their awards, affecting roughly 31,000 locations.
The Texas Broadband Development Office announced it finalized subgrantee agreements for BEAD, awarding funds to 17 providers to connect over 208,000 locations, down from the roughly 240,000 locations and $1.27 billion in provisional awards announced in October. Telecompetitor's June 8 podcast and article detailed the differences, including four providers that rescinded awards and notable increases/decreases for individual providers like Nexstream, Lyte Fiber, and USConnect Holdings.
The Texas Broadband Development Office announced it has finalized BEAD subgrantee agreements with 17 providers, totaling $1,067,572,758 to connect 208,873 unserved/underserved locations. This is down from the $1.27B provisional awards announced last October, with five providers (including Astound Broadband and Amazon Kuiper) losing their awards entirely and several others seeing significant changes in funding and location counts.
Providers: 360 Broadband LLC, 4 IP Technology and Media LLC (Nexstream), AMG Technology Investment Group LLC (Nextlink Internet), Aristotle Unified Communications Inc., AT&T Services Inc./Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., Charter Communications (Spectrum), Connect Holding II LLC (Brightspeed), Frontier Southwest Inc./Verizon, IBT Group USA LLC, Lucky Fiber, Lyte Fiber LLC, Plains Internet, Rural Telecommunications of America Inc., Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (Starlink Services LLC), USConnect Holdings Inc. (Livingston Telephone Co.), Valor Telecommunications of Texas LLC (Uniti), VTX Communications LLC · Amount: $1.1B Source
Louisiana's broadband office, ConnectLA, launched the ÉTOUFFÉE grant program to help community organizations provide free devices, upgraded equipment, and digital skills training to residents, complementing the state's BEAD/GUMBO infrastructure buildout. Eligible applicants include veterans service organizations, rural public health agencies, municipalities, state agencies, and qualifying post-secondary institutions, with applications open through July 15, 2026.
Nextlink Internet activated the first BEAD-funded tower in the nation on May 1, 2026 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, delivering fixed wireless gigabit service to 104 locations in Bossier Parish under an $18.5 million ConnectLA GUMBO 2.0 subgrant. On May 14, 2026, NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen celebrated Vistabeam's activation of the first BEAD-funded household subscriber connection in Ogallala, Nebraska, also via fixed wireless, with both states' milestones confirmed by NTIA, ConnectLA, and the Nebraska Broadband Office.
On May 1, 2026, Nextlink Internet activated a fixed-wireless tower in southern Bienville Parish, Louisiana, bringing gigabit-speed service to 104 BEAD locations in Bossier Parish — the first time households anywhere in the U.S. had service available via BEAD-funded infrastructure. The tower is part of an $18.5 million Louisiana BEAD subgrant to Nextlink to serve 7,460 unserved/underserved locations, awarded through ConnectLA's GUMBO 2.0 program, and was announced via a ConnectLA press release on May 13, 2026.
Empire State Development announced a commitment of up to $20 million to bring broadband access to New Yorkers in homeless shelters statewide, with ConnectALL providing $17 million in coordination with OTDA and an additional $3 million in-kind investment secured by the Public Service Commission. The funding will support broadband infrastructure installation, including Wi-Fi routers and internal wiring, with OTDA determining shelter eligibility; no specific ISP partners were named in the release.
NTIA approved Maine's BEAD Final Proposal, part of a batch of 18 state/territory approvals announced November 18, 2025. The plan, submitted by the Maine Connectivity Authority, includes $48.4 million in federal awards to expand internet infrastructure to 21,818 homes and businesses, drawing on Maine's $272 million BEAD allocation, with the remaining ~$200 million's use still pending NTIA guidance.
The Illinois Office of Broadband announced that provisional BEAD awards under Connect Illinois Round 4 are now available, directing stakeholders to an interactive BEAD Award Map (illinoisbead.org) showing award details by location, provider, and technology. The state's official page notes the program remains subject to change based on NTIA's June 6, 2025 BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice.
On Dec. 2, 2025, the Colorado Broadband Office announced that NTIA approved the state's Final Proposal under the BEAD program, unlocking $420.6 million in federal funding to bring high-speed internet to more than 96,000 Coloradans in rural and underserved areas. Governor Jared Polis called the investment critical to closing the digital divide and advancing the state's goal of connecting 99% of residents to high-speed internet.
As grant-funded broadband projects scale statewide, the Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) is proactively addressing an anticipated surge in permit volumes by hosting a series of Permitting Roundtables in five regions during May and June. These sessions bring together broadband providers (ISPs), local jurisdictions, and utility owners to identify process bottlenecks and explore technical and financial support options, with a virtual option also available.
On September 5, 2023, Gov. Andy Beshear announced a record $386 million investment through Kentucky's Better Internet Initiative, awarding 56 grants totaling more than $196 million from the Kentucky Broadband Deployment Fund (funded by ARPA dollars, not BEAD directly), with ISPs contributing over $190 million in matching funds. The investment will expand fiber access in 46 counties, bringing high-speed internet to more than 42,600 homes and businesses for the first time, with recipients including Charter Communications, All Points Broadband, Spectrum Mid-America, and Kenergy among others.
