BEAD funds unlikely until 2026 or later

Various industry players are warning that Secretaty Lutnick's approach may delay Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program project funding further and leave rural Americans with inferior connectivity. Blair Levin said in a note for New Street Research that rebidding is "likely," as are further delays. "The NOFO is likely to require states to rebid and is likely to include a national high-cost threshold," wrote Levin. "The timetable means that money in the program is not likely to flow out until 2026 and it could be later ... That means that states, the vast majority of whom have completed a [bidding] process, will not have the rebidding process done until late in 2026 and given the potential for litigation, it could be even later."