Minnesota’s First BEAD Contract Lands
The state office must execute 93 more contracts by October 2026.
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2026 – Minnesota has notched a milestone: the state’s first signed BEAD deal.
The state's Office of Broadband Development announced an executed contract and approved environmental review for East Central Energy’s fiber project expected to connect 3,750 locations between Minneapolis and Duluth.
BEAD, short for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, is the $42.45 billion federal grant program created under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to close the country’s broadband gaps.
It's a hard-won moment for the state, which submitted its final proposal in September 2025 following the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s June 2025 restructuring of the program. OBD must get its remaining initial projects under contract by October 8, 2026.
The state’s anticipated projects will connect 74,739 locations, supported by $378.9 million in federal funds and nearly $190 million in matching funds, for a total investment of more than $568.8 million.
The East Central project is just one of 94 initial projects that NTIA approved on December 19, 2025, following more than 18 rounds of curing with the state office.
East Central Energy is well-positioned to be the state’s first mover.
Formed in 1936, ECE is Minnesota’s third-largest member-owned electric cooperative, serving nearly 70,000 homes, farms and businesses across twelve counties in Minnesota, plus parts of three counties in northwestern Wisconsin.
The cooperative began exploring fiber internet service in 2019, and its board committed to a full fiber-to-the-home buildout in November 2021; construction broke ground in May 2023, with the first ECE Fiber customer connected that December.
ECE also built a track record with state broadband funders well before this BEAD award.
Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, which operates the state’s broadband office, awarded the cooperative its fifth Border-to-Border grant in March 2024 worth nearly $5 million. The grant is part of $12.2 million in combined Minnesota and Wisconsin broadband grants the co-op secured that spring alone.
“Bringing broadband to unserved and underserved communities takes true partnership," said ECE Vice President and Chief Information Officer Ty Houglum, thanking OBD and DEED for their responsiveness in helping the cooperative finalize and execute its BEAD application.
OBD continues to work through required project scope changes and preparing contracts for execution. These changes often include removing locations newly identified as already served or re‑awarding locations when providers decline an award, the office said.
As of late-July, NTIA’s national dashboard shows all 56 states and territories have submitted final proposals, 55 have received approval, 54 have sign-off from the National Institute for Standards releasing funds, and 52 have signed award agreements.
Nebraska and Louisiana claimed the first BEAD-funded connections to go live, both using fixed wireless rather than fiber. Nextlink Internet activated a tower in Louisiana’s Bossier Parish on May 1, and Vistabeam connected a household near Ogallala, Nebraska, on May 14
Other states are still working through the approval stage Minnesota cleared in December. California’s final proposal wasn’t approved until July 17, and Illinois is the last state awaiting both NTIA’s and NIST’s sign-off.
