Awards announced, agreements executed, milestones reached — monitored daily across all 56 state and territory programs, AI-verified against official sources.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, ConnectLA officials and REV Fiber launched construction on what the state calls the country's largest BEAD-funded broadband project, bringing fiber to 2,840 locations in East Baton Rouge Parish. About 2,500 locations are supported by federal BEAD funding under the state's $1.36 billion GUMBO 2.0 initiative, with construction expected to begin in November and last seven to eight months.
On August 18, 2026, ConnectLA held an event in Livingston Parish celebrating ongoing broadband deployment under the GUMBO 1.0 program, with Spectrum having connected 263 households and 30 businesses so far. Executive Director Veneeth Iyengar said the parish still has about 1,600 unserved locations but that providers have been funded to reach them, part of the state's broader push toward statewide coverage by 2028.
ConnectLA, Louisiana's Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity, released two new toolkits, a Deployment Toolkit and an Excavation Toolkit, to support coordination and communication as broadband construction scales statewide through the GUMBO 2.0 program. The Deployment Toolkit provides construction lifecycle references and community engagement materials for stakeholders, while the Excavation Toolkit offers guidance on Louisiana's Dig Law for subgrantees. The release supports Louisiana's $1.355 billion BEAD-funded buildout, which is currently in its construction phase.
ConnectLA announced that its GUMBO 1.0 broadband program, funded by the U.S. Treasury's Capital Projects Fund, has surpassed $100 million in infrastructure payments to internet service providers, having distributed $102 million to serve 49,000 locations. The milestone supports Louisiana's goal of achieving full statewide broadband coverage by 2028.
ConnectLA joined Rayville-based Volt Broadband on July 16 to mark completion of a broadband expansion project that has connected nearly 7,000 homes and businesses in Northeast Louisiana. The project was funded through the state's GUMBO 1.0 program, which draws on the U.S. Treasury's Capital Projects Fund rather than BEAD; BEAD funding in Louisiana flows through the separate GUMBO 2.0 program.
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.
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.
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.
