Tennessee Offers BEAD Update: 298 Applications for More Than $704 Million

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) offered an update this week on the first round of their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program applications. In total, providers requested $704,316,251.14 in funds. Tennessee was allocated about $813 million in BEAD funds. According to the update, Tennessee received 298 BEAD applications in the first round that cover 174 of the state’s 178 Project Area Units (PAUs). Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which promises to provide low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband, submitted funding applications for more than three-fourths — 141 out of 178 — of Tennessee’s PAUs. AT&T and Comcast were the two providers asking for the most funding. AT&T requested about $195 million for 28 PAUs, and Comcast requested about $182 million for 27 PAUs.