BEAD Program: A Framework to Allocate Funding for Broadband Availability - Version 3.0

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program holds out tremendous opportunity to close the broadband availability gap. To assist States and Territories and ACA Connects Members in seizing that opportunity, ACA Connects has once again joined with the business consulting firm Cartesian – this time to develop a framework for how each State and Territory can spend BEAD funds on fixed broadband – principally fiber -- projects to connect their unserved and underserved locations. Our framework includes both a national analysis and an analysis for each State where we use the latest data to estimate the number of unserved and underserved locations and the amount of BEAD funding that will be allocated to each jurisdiction, and then, using Cartesian’s proprietary and detailed model, we develop fixed broadband deployment scenarios using that funding and matching funds from providers. Version 3.0 uses the location-specific data from the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map released May 30, 2023, to determine funding allocations and network availability. This version also includes an analysis of how continued broadband deployment—using private capital as well as funding from other programs—will reduce the number of locations that require BEAD support.