CTA

NTIA Chief of Staff: 37 States Cleared to Build Under BEAD, Signals More

The shift followed a December executive order aligning broadband execution with federal artificial intelligence policy.

Akul Saxena

Jan 7, 2026 — 2 min read

Photo of, from left, Rachel Nemeth, senior director of regulatory affairs at the Consumer Technology Association; Bill Davenport, senior director for connectivity and technology policy at Cisco Systems; Jonathan Uriarte, policy and strategic communications adviser to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez; and Brooke Donilon, chief of staff at NTIA, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, at CES 2026.

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2026 — Federal broadband officials said Tuesday that additional states were expected to receive approval soon to begin construction under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, as agencies began implementing a December executive order that tethered federal infrastructure programs more directly to the Trump administration’s artificial intelligence framework.

The update came as 37 states had already been approved to enter the construction phase, moving the program from plan review to implementation. Brooke Donilon, chief of staff at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said further state-level approvals were expected to be announced in the near term, perhaps even “soon enough for announcement at CES.”

Donilon said the December order placed the NTIA at the center of the administration’s AI implementation strategy just as states prepared to break ground on broadband projects. She said states were now managing deployment timelines while also planning for AI–related investments, increasing the need to align permitting, infrastructure planning, and compliance across programs.

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