2024 hasn't been 'year of execution' for BEAD

One year has passed since the White House announced how much money each state and territory will receive from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. But those dollars have yet to make it out the door. Thus far, BEAD has basically been a game of hurry up and wait. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) required eligible entities to submit an Initial Proposal, which is essentially an outline of the state’s objectives for broadband deployment, how it will identify unserved locations, how the state will run its grant program and more. NTIA, which previously touted 2024 as “the year of execution” for BEAD, is still chipping away at approving those proposals. So, when will BEAD deployments actually get started? Obviously, BEAD is a large-scale endeavor with a multi-year timeline. Funding isn’t expected to start reaching projects until 2025 at the earliest.