Who’s Cleared to Apply for BEAD Broadband Funding? See Our State-by-State Lists

Which network operators have been cleared to apply for funding in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program? Telecompetitor checked state broadband office websites and polled states to find out. In the process, we obtained answers for most of the states. Rumors continue to circulate that the rules for the BEAD program may change. However, stakeholders are urging the new National Telecommunications and Information Administration to avoid delays, so hopefully states that have done a prequalification or letter of intent process will not have to redo it. It’s important to note that at least 38 states have begun or completed the process of accepting applications for BEAD funding, including four that already have selected awardees. Overall, hundreds of companies are cleared to apply for BEAD funding in the 19 states, including major publicly held telecommunications and cable providers, small rural telecommunications providers, rural electric companies, LEO satellite providers, fixed wireless providers (some of whom have begun to deploy fiber broadband), and others.