States Report Major Cost Savings in BEAD Broadband Proposals
State officials reported big cost savings and varied tech plans as most raced to meet the Sept. 4 BEAD deadline.
WASHINGTON, September 8, 2025 – State broadband officials reported dramatic cost reductions and diverse technology deployments as most states faced a deadline of Thursday, Sept. 4, to submit final proposals for the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program during a Broadband Breakfast Live Online panel on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Maine achieved the most striking cost efficiency, with Andrew Butcher, president of the Maine Connectivity Authority, saying that his state would spend just $48 million to serve remaining unconnected locations — down from an original $272 million allocation.
"We're looking at an average subsidy to those 24,000 locations of about $2,080 per location," Butcher said during the online event. "These were the locations that we anticipated being some of the most costly and the most remote and most rural."
Broadband Breakfast
The dramatic reduction resulted from the Commerce Department’s "benefit of the bargain" competitive process that yielded "about $200 million in deployment cost savings" and attracted 69% private investment commitments, Butcher said. Maine's technology mix includes 85% fiber deployments, 14% low Earth orbit satellite and 1% hybrid fixed cable.
Minnesota Broadband Office Executive Director Bree Maki, speaking while driving between stakeholder meetings, reported preliminary results showing 56% fiber and coax deployment, 26.5% satellite and 17.5% wireless across 76,000 unserved locations.
"This has been challenging at best," Maki said, noting Minnesota's statutory definition of broadband differs from BEAD requirements. "Our definition of unserved and underserved is not the same as BEAD's."
Texas extension allowed largest BEAD state to take extra time
Texas took a different approach, requesting an extension until Oct. 27 to handle the largest state allocation of $3.3 billion. Bryant Clayton, Broadband Development Office Director for the Texas Comptroller, said the state received "over 4,500 applications from 70 different applicants" requesting "$6.4 billion in funding requests."
"At least 98% of our project area units received at least one application," Clayton said, explaining why Texas needed additional time for evaluation and deconfliction processes.
The panelists highlighted emerging focus on non-deployment funding as cost savings freed up billions nationally. Butcher estimated "about $15 billion out of the BEAD program is going to be eligible for the enabling investment functions," referring to infrastructure, workforce development and digital equity initiatives.
All three states emphasized workforce concerns as deployment accelerates. "If you're going to be building, you have to have people who can build," Clayton said, noting Texas is "standing up a grant program to support workforce development."
Maki stressed the importance of supporting infrastructure beyond basic connectivity. "Those folks that are challenged to get to don't have cell phone service either," she said. "We need to make sure our rural EMS volunteers are reachable, people get the emergency services that they deserve and need, no matter where they live in the state."
The compressed timeline created challenges for public engagement. States were required to provide only seven-day comment periods, reduced from the original 14 days.
"There's a necessary part of the public process that has to be honored, and August is a pretty tough time to get things done anywhere," Butcher said.
As states rush to meet deadlines, the panelists emphasized that BEAD represents unprecedented federal investment in broadband infrastructure, with deployment expected to accelerate significantly in 2025.
Member discussion