National Telecommunications and Information Administration

This tracker features information on active Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program challenge processes, including dates for the opening and closing of online portals to submit challenges as well as links to those portals.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nearly $80 million in the third round of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund’s first Notice of Funding Opportunity. This round includes the first awards in the Testing & Evaluation (T&E) category, designed to expand industry-accepted T&E activities, making testing more accessible to the entire wireless ecosystem. The $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund supports the development of open and interoperable wireless networks.

I often describe NTIA as a ‘small but mighty’ agency. We lived up to that moniker in 2023, making considerable progress in our work to close the digital divide, build a better Internet at home and abroad, and support U.S. wireless innovation and leadership. NTIA hit major milestones in 2023, including:

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) met virtually with Federal Communications Commission staff on December 21, 2023 to discuss the Section 706 Report Notice of Inquiry. NTIA expressed its strong support for the FCC’s important work to assess whether broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion, and offered its assistance as the FCC works to identify appropriate methodologies and data sources for use in conducting this assessment.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), enacted in November 2021, supplies funding for robust investment in American infrastructure projects.

The National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) released a Policy Notice providing guidance on the application of the Uniform Guidance in the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. This Policy Notice reflects NTIA’s latest step to create the conditions necessary for building high-speed networks that connect everyone in America to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service. The Uniform Guidance is the Federal Government’s framework for grants management, providing rules and requirements for Federal grant programs.