NTIA Chief Credited Program Overhaul for $21 Billion in BEAD Savings
Roth said greater provider participation and a technology-neutral approach drove the $21 billion in savings.
WASHINGTON, March 18, 2026 — Half of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program remained unallocated, and the nation's top BEAD program official said Wednesday she expects guidance on how states can spend the $21 billion in remaining funds "as soon as possible."
Arielle Roth, Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the executive branch agency for communications and broadband policy, said it has completed a public listening process and is finalizing the guidance.
"We need to be good stewards of this money," Roth said.
The $21 billion question
Drew Clark, chief executive of Broadband Breakfast, asked Roth what the $21 billion in “non-deployment” funds should be used for.
She said the suggestions gathered during the agency’s listening sessions included workforce training, permitting obstacle reduction, addressing locations likely to default under other federal broadband programs, public safety communications improvements, rural airport connectivity, and digital skills training.
Roth said the goal is to avoid waste and distortionary outcomes that characterized broadband subsidy programs in previous administrations.
She said any middle-mile infrastructure spending, investments in regional networks that connect local broadband systems to the wider internet, must account for the risk of subsidized overbuilding of existing networks. On digital skills, she acknowledged broad stakeholder support but said outcomes can be difficult to measure.
"We want to ensure that it's actually producing those digital skills," Roth said.
The $21 billion in savings resulted from changes made under benefit-of-the-bargain reforms, revised program rules NTIA issued in June 2025. She highlighted greater provider participation and a technology-neutral approach that expanded the role of satellite and fixed wireless. Those drove the savings, Roth said.
Before the changes, approximately 80 percent of planned BEAD locations were slated for fiber. That share has since fallen to roughly 65 percent.
Provider participation doubled in Virginia after the new rules took effect and rose 40 percent in Arizona, she added.
Starlink Contract Dispute
SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband service has sought to add a rider — contract language that modifies specific obligations — to its state BEAD agreements, arguing that reserving dedicated capacity for individual funded locations is impractical on a shared network. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the rider falls outside BEAD program rules.
Asked whether Starlink would withdraw from the program, Roth said NTIA does not anticipate providers dropping out, acknowledging that providers operating across many states face a complex patchwork of contract requirements.
"Everyone needs to play by the rules," Roth said. "There are no exceptions."
She said providers cannot contract out of federal rules or the law, and that some states have already required satellite installation support in their own program rules.
Permitting changes
Permitting emerged as the leading operational concern among state broadband offices, Roth said, citing feedback from a meeting of the State Broadband Leaders Network in Washington last week.
NTIA's Environmental and Social Accountability Platform, a software tool that automates federal environmental review approvals for broadband construction, has cut some timelines from three to six months down to 48 hours, she said. The tool issues categorical exclusions - federal determinations that a project does not require a full environmental impact review - for qualifying BEAD projects.
Program Status
Of the 56 BEAD-eligible jurisdictions, 53 have received initial plan approval, Roth said. NTIA is working with the remaining jurisdictions to reach completion. States still pending approval are Calif., Okla., and Ill.
The program failed to connect a single location under the Biden administration, she said, which she attributed to bureaucratic requirements, mandates outside the infrastructure law, and a de facto fiber preference inconsistent with how Congress wrote the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of November 2021, the law that created BEAD.
Roth described NTIA's on-the-ground oversight efforts in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week, including a review of a District of Columbia proposal to spend $70,000 per location that was reduced by 90 percent after NTIA scrutiny.
Member discussion