BEAD Plans Approved: $736 Million for Washington and $629 Million for Alaska
Now 47 states have received NTIA approval, and 35 have cleared NIST review.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2026 – Alaska and Washington’s spending plans under the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program were approved by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, making it 47 states to get clearance.
With Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration having signed off, the states will need to get their grant agreements developed by the National Institute for Standards and Technology, another Commerce agency, before accessing its funds.
Of its more than $1 billion in BEAD funding allocated in 2023, Alaska’s approved plan would spend more than $629 million to deploy broadband to 46,500 locations. Of those, more than 51 percent will get fiber, another 34 percent will get low-Earth orbit satellite service from SpaceX, and the rest will receive terrestrial fixed wireless.
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