Submitted on September 15, 2025

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

Monday, September 15, 2025

Digital Beat

BEAD BEAD BEAD...And More BEAD Plans

More and more states are releasing their draft final proposals for how to spend their Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program funds. Following the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) June 6 announcement that restructured the BEAD Program, all 50 states and U.S. territories are reevaluating their BEAD plans and publicly releasing them for another look. In this fourth article of our series on states' Benefit of the Bargain round, we include a number of states that have opened their plans for public comment, and a number that have also requested extensions to complete their plans.

Tennessee

NTIA awarded over $813 million in BEAD funding to the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development (TNECD) to connect the un- and underserved in the state. In TNECD's Draft Final Proposal, just over $203 million in BEAD funding would be awarded to broadband deployment projects, leaving $610 million remaining.

TNECD lists 44,435 eligible locations in its draft final proposal, but does not include community anchor institutions (CAIs). The network technology breakdown for Tennessee includes fiber (75%), low-earth-orbit (LEO satellite service) (13%), and hybrid-fiber coaxial (HFC) service (12%).

Ohio

The Ohio Department of Development, which houses the BroadbandOhio initiative, submitted the state's final BEAD proposal on September 4. In Ohio's Draft Final Proposal, the state planned awards for $277 million of its $793 million in BEAD funding for broadband deployment projects, leaving more than half a billion in funding for non-deployment projects.

BroadbandOhio identified 72,375 eligible locations in its draft BEAD plan. Previously, in its Initial Proposal Volume II, BroadbandOhio reported approximately 123,000 unserved and 85,000 underserved broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) in the state. Ohio is splitting its funding between fiber broadband (49%) and LEO satellite (43%), with smaller percentages going towards fixed wireless (7%) and HFC (1%) broadband deployment.

Ohio's largest awardee is Charter Communications for fiber deployment, with a grant of over $80 million. The state awarded the second-largest grant in the nation to SpaceX for its Starlink service.

Vermont

The Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) also submitted its final proposal to NTIA on September 4. In the state's draft plan, which was released for public comment on August 28, VCBB awarded just over half ($118 million) of its $228 BEAD allotment to broadband deployment projects.

VCBB's draft plan includes 14,549 eligible locations, compared to the state's earlier estimate of 16,895 locations. Vermont's un- and underserved will be served almost entirely by fiber (91%), with six percent going to LEO satellite and three percent to HFC. CAIs were not included in VCBB's draft BEAD final proposal.

American Samoa

The American Samoa Department of Commerce (ASDOC) released its Draft Final Proposal on August 29 and closed the comment period on September 4.

In its proposal, ASDOC emphasized that BEAD funding is critical for American Samoa, where geographic isolation, high deployment costs, and infrastructure challenges have historically limited broadband availability. With a total BEAD allocation of $37 million, ASDOC's Benefit of the Bargain-round final proposal awards almost $20 million, leaving around $16 million for non-deployment (such as adoption).

American Samoa lists 7,653 eligible locations across the territory. These locations will be served primarily by fiber (94%) and a small portion by LEO satellite service (6%).

Nebraska

Nebraska Counties Convinced BEAD Changes Will Leave Them Unconnected

The Nebraska Broadband Office (NBO) closed the public comment period for its Draft Final Proposal on September 10.

The draft proposal details how NBO will use $56 million of its $405 million in BEAD funding (13%) for broadband deployment projects.

In Nebraska's earlier BEAD proposals, the state identified 29,597 homes as eligible for BEAD funding. But in the Benefit of the Bargain round draft proposal, NBO lists just 14,032 locations as eligible and 54 CAIs. Nebraska has a high percentage of BEAD awards going to HFC (58%), followed by LEO satellite (33%) and then fiber broadband (9%).

Alabama

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) released its Draft Final Proposal on September 10 and is accepting public comments on the proposal until September 16.

ADECA was awarded more than $1.4 billion in BEAD funding to connect un- and underserved residents in Alabama. In ADECA's draft proposal, the office awards only $530 million of that amount to broadband deployment projects.

While earlier estimates by Cartesian of the BEAD-eligible locations in Alabama included more than 212,000 un- and underserved locations collectively, ADECA's draft proposal lists 101,090 locations and 669 CAIs. The state plans to connect the majority of the locations to fiber broadband (75%), followed by LEO satellite (21%), and HFC (4%). Alabama's top award goes to Comcast ($157 million) for fiber broadband and HFC service.

Connecticut

Connecticut's Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) released its Draft Final Proposal on September 10, with a deadline of September 16 for public comments.

DEEP's draft proposal includes funding awards accounting for $7.2 million of the state's $144 million in BEAD funding, which comes out to almost five percent of the state's total funding amount. Connecticut lists 724 eligible locations and 1,066 CAIs.

DEEP plans to connect those locations using fiber broadband (78%) and HFC (22%). The state's funding will go to two companies: The Southern New England Telephone Company ($6.5 million) and Comcast ($643,299).

[The Southern New England Telephone Company, often known as SNET, was a prominent Connecticut-based telephone company that established the world's first telephone exchange and telephone book in 1878. After decades of operating as the dominant phone service in Connecticut, SNET was acquired by SBC Communications in 1998 and later became part of AT&T before its operations were sold to Frontier Communications in 2014.]

Michigan

The Michigan High-Speed Internet Office (MIHI) is accepting public comments on its Draft Final Proposal until September 16. In its proposal, MIHI states that its broadband deployment spend will be $924 million of its total BEAD allotment of almost $1.6 billion. Telecompetitor reports that Michigan's provisional awards are the most of any other state so far.

Michigan's efforts are to connect 221,452 eligible locations and 327 CAIs. MIHI had earlier identified 248,253 locations as eligible for BEAD funds.

MIHI’s proposal includes 334 project awards to 30 organizations and includes a mix of technologies to address the state’s unique communities and needs. Those technologies include fiber broadband (84%), LEO satellite (13% by our estimates, with a SpaceX award pending for 5,109 locations), fixed wireless (1%), and a small amount for HFC.

Oregon

In the Oregon Broadband Office's (OBO) Draft Final Proposal, OBO details its plans to award $620 million of its almost $689 million in BEAD funding to broadband deployment projects. OBO lists 105,615 eligible locations and 37 CAIs.

OBO will award funding to mostly fiber broadband (53%) and LEO satellite (46%) service, with one percent of funding going to fixed wireless deployment.

Oregon is accepting public comments on its draft final proposal until September 18.

Indiana

The Indiana Broadband Office (IBO) released its Draft Final Proposal on September 11, with a public comment deadline of September 18.

IBO identified 131,953 eligible locations and 42 CAIs in its draft proposal. Indiana plans to spend $486 million on broadband deployment to the un- and underserved in the state out of its total BEAD funding allotment of $868 million.

To connect the unconnected in Indiana, IBO will primarily fund fiber broadband deployment (79%), followed by LEO satellite (14%) and fixed wireless (6%).

States Request Extensions on Final Proposal Deadline

While many states have already submitted their final proposals to NTIA, some states (like a few of the above) have requested extensions to complete their plans. The remaining states that have received extensions are:

Alaska: Will begin its public comment period on or before September 24
California: Submission deadline of October 2
Florida
Illinois: Submission deadline of September 30
Missouri: Submission deadline of September 29
New York
Puerto Rico
South Carolina
South Dakota: Submission deadline of September 30
Texas: Submission deadline of October 27
U.S. Virgin Islands
Utah
Washington, D.C.

Special thanks to Reid Sharkey and Zoë Walker for their contributions to this article.

More in this Series

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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