Delaware Unveils BEAD Spending Plan

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2024 – Delaware unveiled Wednesday its preliminary awards for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Verizon is set to take home more than $17.4 million and Comcast committed to a project without financial support, according to records posted by the state broadband office. 

The state secured fiber broadband connections for all of its remaining homes and businesses without adequate internet access – about 5,600 – accomplishing a major goal of the $42.5 billion federal program. Delaware’s $17.4 million in spending was well under its $107 million allocation, and the state plans to spend its remaining BEAD cash on workforce development and network resilience projects.

“I want to thank every Internet Service Provider who applied to help bring universal internet service to Delaware,” Roddy Flynn, executive director of the Delaware Broadband Office, said in a statement. “This was a very competitive process, which shows the strong telecommunications ecosystem we have in Delaware. The awards to Verizon and Comcast represent the strongest investment of taxpayer money, and we are confident these projects will be completed on time, on budget, and using a highly skilled and qualified workforce.”

Along with Louisiana, the only other state to reach the milestone, Delaware’s preliminary awards will need to be approved by the federal government. Republicans in Congress, staunchly critical of the program’s preference for fiber, have said “substantial changes” are on the way for BEAD when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January or called for “pulling the plug” on the program altogether.

BEAD’s GOP critics haven’t detailed a specific plan for its future, but experts have said a rule change of some kind that benefits non-fiber providers is possible. Elon Musk, a major Trump donor and close advisor to the president-elect, owns satellite ISP Starlink.

The Delaware broadband office said it got a total of 21 grant applications from five ISPs to serve its eight BEAD project areas.

Verizon is taking the lion’s share of the eligible locations – more than 4,600 according to state data – with Comcast serving the rest. Verizon is putting up $66.8 million in matching funds in addition to its grant award and Comcast is spending $22.3 million.

Comcast’s commitment to a BEAD project without any financial support effectively prevented another provider from scooping up that service area, as states are required by the federal government to make every effort to secure coverage for every eligible location.

Delaware’s final proposal, as the document is called, will be up for public comment until 4:30 pm on Dec. 24.

Flynn also announced he was leaving the state broadband office to be chief of staff for Rep.elect Sarah McBride, D-Del.