One Year After BEAD Restructured, Some States Still Can’t Access Infrastructure Funding
Despite federal promises to accelerate deployment, many states are still waiting on approvals to access broadband funds.
WASHINGTON, June 9, 2026 – The overhaul Republicans said would accelerate the nation’s largest broadband program has delayed it by at least a year.
Twelve months later, some states have yet to receive federal approval to access infrastructure funding, just one provider is serving subscribers, and more than $22 billion in taxpayer money remains tied up in the Commerce Department where officials are three months behind a deadline for issuing new guidance.
Trump administration officials argued the June 6, 2025 restructuring of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program would eliminate burdensome requirements and accelerate deployment. Speaking before Congress, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick touted the new direction as cost-cutting and “tech-neutral” and promised to expedite the program so that all funds would be distributed by the end of 2025.
Instead, many states find themselves further from construction, with preliminary awards unraveling as providers reassess their participation.
“Changing guidance and expectations has delayed the program deployment at almost every stage,” Maine Connectivity Authority President Andrew Butcher told Broadband Breakfast.
Two of Maine’s successful BEAD ‘Benefit of the Bargain’ subgrantees, one national and one Maine-based, have opted to drop out and decline their awards due to uncertain timelines, increased costs, uncertainty around funding and rules, and difficulty finding program-compliant materials.
It’s an issue replicating across states, with multiple already announcing preliminary defaults sending them back to the drawing board once again.
Vermont Community Broadband Board Executive Director Christine Hallquist said the state had two providers drop out because of the complexity, including one that cited concerns about potential impacts to its existing funding under another federal broadband program.
Texas saw four of its tentative grant winners rescind their awards Friday, leaving 31,000 homes and businesses without a planned broadband connection. Nebraska similarly announced it would hold additional bidding rounds after three ISPs walked away.
“‘Benefit of the Bargain’ requirements and restructuring have increased demand on Eligible Entities without reducing barriers or accelerating deployment,” Butcher said.
He said new contractual terms and conditions conveyed by NTIA in December, changing program guidance, increased environmental permitting complications, and uncertainty around the eligible use of remaining “non-deployment funds” require constant stewardship and elevated administrative effort.
In the meantime, states find themselves stuck in a cycle of revisions – working once again to finalize subgrantee contracts, modify awards to reflect constantly changing eligible location amounts, and help providers navigate requirements.
See states planned BEAD awards here.
“There's definitely huge delays now in terms of getting our questions answered,” Vermont broadband director Christine Hallquist told Broadband Breakfast, “there's just a lack of accountability in terms of timelines with the NTIA right now.”
Hallquist said federal officials' response time has lengthened with most inquiries now going all the way up the chain to NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth or Chief of Staff Brooke Donilon.
Vermont is one of the states that still doesn’t have access to its infrastructure funding. The state will submit its final plan by September 4 and then must receive approval from NTIA and NIST.
“We're hoping that by fall we can get the funding,” Hallquist said.
Hallquist said the program's restructuring substantially increased the number of BEAD locations slated to receive satellite service, rising from roughly 6 percent to 14 percent of locations in the state's revised plans.
The state was originally allocated nearly $229 million under the federal BEAD program. However, following revised federal requirements, the state’s approved plan will unlock an initial disbursement of $92.8 million in implementation funding, with the remaining funds still subject to NTIA guidance.
Asked how Vermont would use its remaining non-deployment funds, Hallquist said the state is waiting for federal guidance but hopes to continue investing in workforce development and digital education programs.
Hallquist also pointed to fiber supply constraints that could affect how quickly projects move to construction.
U.S. fiber manufacturers are estimated to have annual production capacity of roughly 135 million fiber kilometers, compared to projected demand of 434 million fiber kilometers from BEAD projects, data center construction, and existing commercial needs, according to information provided by VCBB.
Despite changes, Hallquist said Vermont expects universal broadband coverage once all projects funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Capital Projects Fund, and BEAD are completed.
Under the state's projections, about 86 percent of locations statewide will ultimately be served by fiber, roughly 14 percent by hybrid fiber-cable networks, and about 0.3 percent by satellite service.
Critics say restructuring weakened legislative goals
The restructuring drew fresh criticism this week from broadband policy analysts, who argued changes over the past year undermined the long-term infrastructure goals Congress envisioned when it created the program.
“What the BEAD restructuring has really delivered so far is that fewer households will receive the kind of broadband service Congress had intended,” Dr. Revati Prasad, executive director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, wrote in a post Friday.
“Before June 2025, states had been encouraged to invest in networks capable of meeting community connectivity needs for decades to come. The revised rules pushed states towards the lowest-cost option available. The result is fewer fiber network deployments and greater reliance on technologies that may be cheaper upfront but offer lower capacity, lower reliability, and have shorter lifespans,” Prasad wrote.
“A program meant to make a generational investment in America’s digital infrastructure became an exercise in minimizing near-term costs,” she said.
NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth continued to promote the administration’s broadband policies in remarks Tuesday before an audience of the Federal Communications Bar Association, where she stressed the importance of deploying broadband as quickly as possible.
As states move forward, broadband officials called for federal guidance that provides flexibility to states.
