NTIA Announces New Round of BEAD Grants to Target Unserved Areas

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced that it will solicit additional state proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, tapping the roughly $21 billion still unspent from the $42 billion federal broadband initiative launched in the 2021 infrastructure law. Congressional pressure has built for months, with several senators requesting guidance on permissible uses of the leftover funds.

The upcoming round targets “newly identified unserved locations,” including areas added after FCC map revisions or where other broadband programs have faltered. NTIA chief Arielle Roth said the effort is meant to finally achieve universal broadband and safeguard taxpayer money, noting that prior Trump-era changes had steered the program toward the cheapest options rather than fiber. During a recent Alaska roundtable, Roth and Senator Dan Sullivan discussed the state’s potential to qualify more than 5,000 new sites.

Senators Deb Fischer, Jerry Moran and Susan Collins also praised the move, urging that any remaining BEAD money support critical needs such as precision agriculture. The agency is still working on guidance for non-deployment uses like digital literacy and device affordability, and final approvals for proposals from California and Illinois remain pending with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.