Study Finds BEAD Locations Plummet After Rule Changes
Does Connecticut need any BEAD money?
WASHINGTON, July 23, 2025 – A new study found that the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program map keeps shrinking.
A report from the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School concluded that since Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s revised BEAD rules went into effect on June 6, the number of eligible funding locations has dropped by 14 percent. Overall, the total number of unserved and underserved locations has dropped by 65 percent since December 2022.
The study attributed the changes to Lutnick’s “Benefit of the Bargain” regulations, which introduced stricter, tech-neutral eligibility requirements. Under the new rules, states are required to reexamine areas served by unlicensed fixed wireless providers, incorporate the Federal Communications Commission’s updated broadband data, remove locations covered by other funding programs, and consider Rural Digital Opportunity Fund defaults.
According to the results, the impact varied by state. For instance, Rhode Island only changed by two locations – from 2,895 to 2,897. But Connecticut, which experienced the steepest drop, decreased from 7,245 to only 885 locations – an 88 percent decrease. However, despite that decline, Connecticut is slated to receive $144.1 million in BEAD money – more than $163,000 per location – under the Biden-era allocation plan unveiled in 2023.
The funding-to-location misalignment sparked criticism from some.
“We believe the number (the decrease) could be even higher, but several states seem intent on keeping their prior non-tech neutral focus, designing impossible hurdles for small providers to demonstrate they are serving,” said Mike Wendy, spokesman for WISPA, a trade group that represents unlicensed fixed wireless (ULFW) operators.
ACLP Director and study co-author Michael Santorelli stated the findings can be interpreted in two ways.
“On the one hand, removing these locations reduces the chances that BEAD will subsidize unnecessary overbuilding,” he said. “But on the other hand, these changes mean that, in some instances, locations that might have been in line to receive robust and reliable broadband service over fiber or cable under the previous rules might now be deemed served by a lesser quality connection. This is a trade-off inherent in Secretary Lutnick's ‘bargain.’”
The ACLP combined several factors when conducting this study. The study examined the most up-to-date information, removing locations served by qualifying unlicensed fixed wireless providers and accounting for RDOF defaults that add some locations.
Member discussion