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# Vernonburg Estimates 900K Remaining BEAD Locations, $5.3 Billion in Extra Deployment Costs
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/vernonburg-estimates-900k-remaining-bead-locations-5-3-billion-in-extra-deployment-costs/
- Published: 2026-10-15T16:15:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-05T22:48:02.000Z
- Description: An ACLP analysis found that in 69 percent of BEAD project areas, broadband networks had already been built out to 20 percent of locations
- Author: Jake Neenan
- Tags: BEAD, Broadband Mapping and Data, The Vernonburg Group, ACLP, Michael Santorelli, Angela Siefer, Adeyinka ogunlegan, NTIA, FCC, #with-siderail, HTTP

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2026 – Another analysis is estimating that the government’s flagship broadband grant program has more work to do to close the digital divide.

Broadband consulting firm Vernonburg Group [said Thursday](https://www.vernonburggroup.com/blog/bead-true-up-round-will-kick-off-soon---how-much-funding-is-needed-to-connect-all-remaining-unserved-and-underserved-locations?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) it counted about 900,000 locations that would qualify for an upcoming cleanup round under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

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That’s compared to the [3.79 million locations](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/with-all-bead-plans-approved-states-and-territories-set-to-spend-18-2-billion-on-deployment/) the program’s main round is targeting

Reaching the remaining eligible locations could cost about $5.3 billion, Vernonburg estimated, based on the mix of technologies states are already planning on deploying.

After the Trump administration’s efforts to push down deployment costs, the $42.45 billion BEAD has about $21 billion remaining. Some of that will be used on the cleanup round, and some will be used for “non-deployment” activities that the Commerce Department hasn’t yet detailed.

Researchers at New York Law School’s Advanced Connectivity Law and Policy Institute [also counted about](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/about-1-million-bead-eligible-locations-remain-researchers-say/) 1 million locations last month. ACLP estimated that it could cost anywhere from $5.3 billion to $8.8 billion.

The Vernonburg and ACLP estimates included both unserved locations, those lacking broadband at 25 \* 3 megabits per second (Mbps), and underserved locations, those lacking 100 \* 20 Mbps.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce agency handling BEAD, internally estimated last month that about 477,000 locations would be eligible. That analysis did not appear to include underserved locations; Michael Santorelli, executive director of ACLP, said the number matched the group’s own unserved-only total.

The cleanup round is aimed at locations that were missed during the main BEAD round last year due to mapping errors, or that were affected by defaults in other broadband grant programs. There’s a separate process of addressing defaults or refused contracts under BEAD.

On Wednesday, NTIA Chief of Staff **Brooke Donilon** said the agency had [increased its estimate](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/ntia-estimates-up-to-1-million-locations-may-need-broadband-funding/), but was waiting on new coverage maps from the Federal Communications Commission.

“We're anticipating somewhere between 600,000 to 1 million. We've seen different numbers, but once we get the FCC's updated map, we will submit this to the states,” Donilon said.

Once that map is out — which Donilon said was “weeks” away — NTIA will send each state and territory a list of potentially eligible locations. State broadband offices will then be able to remove erroneous locations from the list and run a shortened challenge process.

In the meantime, NTIA has asked states for lists of locations where they know a default has occurred.

### *Rescoping projects?*

During a Wednesday webinar hosted by the Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership, Santorelli noted that networks have been expanding while BEAD’s complicated process played out.

During the BEAD bidding process, ISPs submitted plans to serve project areas — areas in which they would build out to all locations. They were defined differently in each state, but no more than 20 percent of their locations could already be served by 100 \* 20 Mbps.

Santorelli said ACLP found that currently, 69 percent of BEAD project areas exceeded that initial threshold, meaning more than 20 percent of their locations had since got access to 100 \* 20 Mbps service through other privately or publicly funded builds. 

In light of that, he said it would make sense for states and ISPs to reevaluate projects to confirm they still complied with BEAD rules, and were still viable given the current number of locations without existing service.

If not, he said, states should try to rescope projects, potentially adding additional locations to make them work. NTIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But he acknowledged that could be difficult to do quickly.

“At some point, you’ve got to draw a line in the sand and say this is the map, we’re going to get it going and accelerate things as much as possible,” he said.

SpaceX offers satellite broadband service effectively everywhere in the country, but BEAD eligibility only takes terrestrial service into account. Satellite ISPs that won BEAD grants are supposed to use the money to ensure their service meets the program’s speed and reliability standards at funded locations. 

Santorelli said NTIA should use non-deployment funds to address predicted barriers ACLP has researched, like local permitting, pole attachments, and 811 tickets.

On the same webinar, National Digital Inclusion Alliance Executive Director **Angela Siefer** and National Urban League Chief of Staff **Adeyinka Ogunlegan** said non-deployment funding should be used to address broadband adoption issues.

States had been planning on funding broadband adoption efforts before the Trump administration overhauled BEAD’s rules in June 2025 and said non-deployment guidance would be forthcoming.

That guidance is coming after the cleanup round, the agency has said. Based on NTIA’s processes, it could take nine months from when the first tentative locations lists are handed down, which hasn’t happened yet.