Thursday, February 27, 2025
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Arizona, Oregon, and South Dakota Offer BEAD Program Updates
Oklahoma broadband leaders forge ahead despite federal uncertainties
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Three states have provided updates in the long process of granting funds under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
- Arizona BEAD Updates: The Arizona Commerce Authority has extended the main round application deadline to March 7. The state was allocated $993.1 million to connect underserved or unserved locations in the state.
- Oregon BEAD Updates: Business Oregon says that its BEAD Deployment Subgrantee Selection, which opened on February 12, is nearing its March 14 completion.
- South Dakota BEAD Updates: Connect South Dakota says that it is nearing completion of the location list and anticipates opening its application portal on Monday, March 3.

Recent federal funding changes have paused some programs or grants but the Oklahoma Broadband Office appears to be in good shape. In 2025, the office awarded more than 180 projects amounting to over $500 million in grants for broadband infrastructure projects across the state. Broadband officials are gearing up for more projects this year. Mike Sanders, executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office, said the contracts are signed for the monies delivered last year from the American Rescue Plan Act through the State and Local Recovery Funds and the Capital Projects Funds, and won’t be touched. Another expected $750 million dollar pot of money for infrastructure projects through the Broadband, Equity Access and Deployment program he said is also expected to come through still.

The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has launched the Broadband Equity Study Story Map, an interactive tool designed to visualize internet access disparities across the city. The Story Map combines data analysis with personal experiences from residents impacted by the digital divide, offering a comprehensive review of the challenges and opportunities for improving broadband access. The Broadband Equity Study Story Map aims to:
- Identify populations consistently impacted by limited internet access.
- Map geographic areas at greater risk of prolonged disconnectivity (barriers to consistent connectivity).
- Highlight key themes from community insights that will inform digital equity policies.
- Strengthen the city’s efforts to secure funding for broadband affordability initiatives.

When President Joe Biden put $42 billion behind making high-speed internet accessible across the US, he committed to doing it the old-fashioned way—with miles upon miles of fiber-optic lines. That frustrated Elon Musk, who said his Starlink satellite-internet business could get rural areas online faster, at lower cost. Biden’s decision helped drive a wedge between the Democratic president and the world’s richest person, who later used his wealth to help return Donald Trump to the White House. Now, some Republicans want to open the floodgates for Starlink to compete with fiber, potentially shifting billions to Musk. While fiber can offer faster connections and is highly durable, it can take years to install at scale. Critics say satellite and 5G wireless networks can expand web service to remote areas with fewer delays and less ground-based infrastructure.

If everything goes their way, U.S. wireless carriers could see somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 MHz of spectrum flowing into the spectrum pipeline over the next four years. Based on previous transactions, that spectrum could be worth a cool $160 billion. That’s according to the analysts at New Street Research (NSR), who published a report spelling out exactly where this licensed spectrum would come from and how much carriers might be willing to pony up in order to acquire it. The operative words here are “if everything goes their way.” That’s because the wireless carriers aren’t the only ones champing at the bit for spectrum. The government’s spectrum requirements are growing alongside the needs of commercial wireless services, and advocates for unlicensed spectrum, like that used for Wi-Fi, always want more spectrum.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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