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# States Can’t Unilaterally Alter BEAD Contracts, NTIA Says
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/states-cant-unilaterally-alter-bead-contracts-ntia-says/
- Published: 2026-08-14T15:15:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-04T21:47:15.000Z
- Description: The agency asked states to reduce satellite awards, but some had already signed their agreements
- Author: Jake Neenan
- Tags: BEAD, SpaceX, Amazon, Arielle Roth, #with-siderail

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2026 – States can’t unilaterally alter contracts they signed with ISPs under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, federal regulators told broadband offices.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration [asked states](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/satellite-bead-awards-to-be-reduced/) last month to reduce the awards they made to satellite broadband providers, citing new data showing either already existing terrestrial deployments or misclassified buildings.

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But some states had already signed contracts with SpaceX or Amazon. In those cases, the companies would have to agree to their locations being reduced, NTIA said in its latest [BEAD FAQ document](https://broadbandusa.ntia.gov/sites/default/files/2026-08/BEAD%5FFAQs%5FV23%5F08%5F26.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com), updated Aug. 3.

ISPs participating in the program “have a reasonable reliance interest in the terms of their executed subgrant agreement, and altering those terms after award could negatively affect project viability,” NTIA wrote in the FAQ. “Providers or governments that choose to overbuild BEAD-funded locations do so with full awareness that those locations are funded by BEAD and that the federal government has an interest in maintaining the financial viability of the project serving those locations during the period of performance.”

During a June 30 hearing, NTIA Administrator **Arielle Roth** told lawmakers that five states had signed contracts with SpaceX. 

Based on public announcements, those included Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Nebraska. Since the hearing, at least Virginia has also said it signed with satellite providers.

In their initial NTIA-approved plans, those states had a combined 105,111 satellite locations between them. Whether the number gets reduced will depend on whether SpaceX and Amazon are willing to amend their contracts.

“If the subgrantee and the Eligible Entity mutually agree that a location should be removed, then the parties may agree to a project modification,” NTIA wrote. ISPs are subgrantees and states are eligible entities in BEAD technical jargon.

[An analysis](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/bead-satellite-locations-could-drop-35-42-analysts-say/) from New York Law School found that under the new NTIA policy, the 900,000 locations in line for BEAD-funded satellite service nationally could drop by 35 to 42 percent.