State-by-State BEAD Bids Reveal Varying Degrees of ISP Participation
Arkansas nearly reached full coverage, Massachusetts barely half.
WASHINGTON, March 21, 2025 – As state application windows continue to close for the $42.45 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program, a divide has emerged in provider participation.
While some states have seen an influx of applications from internet service providers, others have drawn only a handful.
Arkansas received bids to cover 96% of its BEAD-eligible locations, but Massachusetts, so far, has received just five applications proposing to reach about 50% of locations. Meanwhile, New Hampshire, Maine, and Colorado have drawn bids to cover 55%, 79% and over 90% of eligible locations, respectively.
This week’s state-by-state BEAD participation roundup offers a snapshot of how the program was playing out differently across the country — and where major challenges still remain.
Here’s what we know:
Maine
Maine’s first BEAD application window closed with a clear and resounding message from providers: build fiber.
All 54 applications submitted to the state proposed end-to-end fiber networks — with not a single fixed wireless or satellite bid, despite the state’s open invitation for all technology types.
“We saw 100% of our applications were for fiber,” said Brian Allenby, newly appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Maine Connectivity Authority, in an interview with Broadband Breakfast.
The application round, which closed March 7, drew proposals from local, statewide, and national ISPs. Together, those applicants sought to connect 79% of the state’s remaining unserved locations across 363 project service areas.
Applicants requested over $200 million of Maine’s total $271.9 million BEAD allocation, with an average cost per connection of $7,000 and private sector matches averaging 43%.
While fiber dominated Round 1, Allenby emphasized that the state was preparing for a second round to engage with alternative technology providers.
“When we looked at our remaining 26,000 BEAD locations, we've always estimated that between 20% and 30% of those would likely be [served by] alternative technologies,” Allenby said.
“Given the remote nature [of these locations], a good portion of them don't even have pole infrastructure that gets to them,” Allenby said. “They're off grid, they're remote, they're hunting camps, they're second homes. And so, that's just the nature of it.”
“We had a few [alternative providers] who… did not plan to come in with any bids in the first round, but we're going to continue to engage with them in the second round,” Allenby said.
Maine’s final BEAD proposal, including subgrantee selections, will be due to NTIA by June 12. In the meantime, the state will be reviewing applications, resolving overlapping bids, and preparing for its second application round expected later this spring.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire received 229 applications in its first BEAD funding round, which closed March 1. The applications propose to cover 5,200 broadband serviceable locations, representing roughly 55% of the state’s total 9,500 unserved locations.
That figure, however, may shift as the state works through significant mapping issues with the Federal Communications Commission, said Matt Conserva, broadband program manager for the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs, in an interview with Broadband Breakfast.
“That 5,200 number of BSLs may change because the mapping data is so bad,” Conserva said. “We’re finding BSLs listed in one town but with latitude and longitude showing them in a town 60 miles away,” he said.
ISPs’ applications were submitted based on version 4 of the FCC’s broadband map, Conserva explained, but the FCC has since released version 6. He said the state office would be meeting with the FCC next week, and was considering a data true-up to resolve the mapping discrepancies, but hasn’t made a final decision.
While the state declined to release detailed technology breakdowns, Conserva said most applications proposed fiber-to-the-home.
“We don’t know what’s going to change with the program guidance,” Conserva said, but “we’ve always left the door open [for] satellite or licensed fixed wireless. It’s just not something we considered in the first couple of rounds.”
Despite falling slightly short of its internal target, the state views the first round as a success.
“We were definitely pleased with [the first round],” Conserva added. “We were hoping to hit 75% [of BSLs], but we’re working closely with providers to get the rest of the state covered.”
Massachusetts
Massachusetts received five applicants in the state’s first BEAD application round, which closed on March 10. The bids came from four private providers and one tribal nation, according to Michael Baldino, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute.
Despite the relatively small number of applicants, the proposals will cover more than 50% of the state’s eligible locations. Most of the proposals involve fiber-to-the-home deployments, with some areas covered through hybrid fiber-coax networks, MBI reported.
“This represents a strong response from providers to address the remaining gaps in broadband availability,” Baldino said in a statement to Broadband Breakfast.
“MBI is evaluating and scoring the BEAD Round 1 applications while also assessing remaining locations that did not receive applications under Round 1,” an office spokesperson confirmed.
The agency plans to announce another round of the subgrantee selection process in the coming weeks.
Colorado (Round Two)
Colorado’s broadband office received 96 applications proposing to serve over 90% of unserved locations in the state’s second BEAD application round.
Interested bidders requested $649 million of the state’s $826.5 million BEAD allocation, and proposed $176 million in matching funds.
Of those, 67 applications proposed fiber projects, while 29 proposed alternative technologies such as fixed wireless or satellite. Collectively, the proposals sought to serve 94,080 of the 104,269 eligible locations.
Applications were submitted in all 64 counties, with 53 counties seeing more than one bid. Larimer (11), Weld (9), Douglas (8), and Arapahoe (8) counties received the highest volume of applications.
Of the applications submitted, 76% came from non-ILEC providers, while 6% were from municipalities, 5% from public or private utilities, 4% from incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), 1% from Tribal governments, and the remaining 7% from other types of entities.
The state will review applications in the coming weeks, before submitting its final BEAD proposal to NTIA, due on June 11.
Arkansas (Round Two)
Arkansas released initial high-level statistics from its second BEAD application window, which closed on March 12.
The state received 746 total bids in Tranche-2, with 91% overlapping in at least one census block group. In total, 96% of BEAD-eligible locations received at least one bid, while 79% drew interest from two or more ISPs, signaling continued strong competition.
The Arkansas broadband office carried 589 bids forward from Tranche-1 into this round.
Pending: Kentucky, Hawaii
As of this publication date, Kentucky and Hawaii have closed their first BEAD application windows, but have yet to release participation data. Hawaii’s closed on March 14, and Kentucky’s on March 16.
Broadband Breakfast continues to track state-by-state participation as more data becomes available. See also the BEAD Grant Applications Tracker.
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