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# NTIA Focused on Making New BEAD Round as Accurate as possible, Roth Says
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/ntia-focused-on-making-new-bead-round-as-accurate-as-possible-roth-says/
- Published: 2026-10-14T18:42:31.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-05T22:48:04.000Z
- Description: The agency is waiting on new FCC broadband coverage maps, which it expects will be released ‘soon’
- Author: Jake Neenan
- Tags: BEAD, Arielle Roth, FBA, NTIA, FCC, Brooke Donilon, #with-siderail

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2026 – The Commerce Department is hoping to make broadband coverage maps as accurate as possible before a new round of funding aimed at locations that previously fell through the cracks.

Assistant Commerce Secretary **Arielle Roth**, head of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said that at the agency’s last convening of state broadband directors, officials were adamant about “the importance of getting this right.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/97/29976d9d-89ea-4c77-8c0b-0e8a0eafed35/content/images/2026/10/bolton-roth.jpg)

****Gary Bolton** and ****Arielle Roth** on Wednesday

“This may be our only opportunity for a cleanup round, and so ensuring that we have as accurate data as possible is very important,” she said.

Roth spoke on a webinar hosted by the Fiber Broadband Association.

The agency is preparing a cleanup round under its $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. It’s targeted at unserved homes and businesses without a current funding commitment, either because of a default in another program or mapping errors.

She said NTIA was anticipating new broadband coverage data from the Federal Communications Commission would be published “soon,” and that after that the agency would hand states lists of potentially eligible locations “shortly.”

In the meantime, she said NTIA had asked states and territories to submit their own lists of locations where they knew of project defaults in other programs. Some providers have walked away from BEAD contracts, but the agency has a separate process for finding a new provider in those cases.

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At a Wireless Infrastructure Association event Wednesday, NTIA Chief of Staff **Brooke Donilon** said the agency was estimating “600,000 to 1 million” locations would be eligible under the cleanup round.

An internal NTIA estimate from September had expected closer to 500,000 eligible locations. Researchers at the New York Law school estimated about 1 million.

After NTIA gives its final lists to states, states will have the chance to remove locations if they have knowledge that service is in fact present or being deployed soon.

### *Fiber supply*

BEAD participants have to buy certain components and materials from American manufacturers. Fiber optic cable is subject to the requirement, and demand for U.S.-made fiber has skyrocketed as tech companies build more and more data centers.

Roth said the agency was “actively and closely monitoring the fiber supply chain, and will continue to do that as deployment progresses.”

She said NTIA had received assurances from the major U.S. fiber manufacturers that they would be able to meet the program’s demand. 

After some BEAD winners reported disrupted fiber orders earlier this year, those companies have said BEAD demand represents only a small amount of the industry’s capacity and that they would be able to supply the program.

If BEAD winners experience issues securing fiber, Roth said they should reach out to the agency.