Panelists Consider BEAD Performance, Compliance and Affordability

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2026 — The next phase of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program will bring a sharper focus on affordability, panelists at Broadband Breakfast Live Online webcast said Wednesday.

In a wide-ranging event discussing the program with moderator Drew Clark , CEO of Broadband Breakfast, panelists provided data to document the dramatic strides already made in closing the digital divide. They also highlighted the role that performance monitoring and post-award compliance is likely to play in the program.

Slides from Broadband Breakfast Live Online

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Private capital and performance gains reshape the map

National download speeds, upload speeds and latency have all improved since 2021, said Bryan Darr , vice president of government affairs at Ookla, who walked through map data showing dramatic shifts over just five years.

In Walthall County, Mississippi, new entrant Conexon Connect transformed connectivity beginning in mid-2024, with speed test counts jumping sharply as the operator ramped up. Darr also pointed to upload improvements pushing past the 20 Megabits per second (Mbps) threshold on median latency reductions tied to Starlink's expanding ground station footprint.

For Starlink, daily weekly capacity pattern graphs still show strain during evening peak hours.

"The private investment in broadband overall across the country has been pretty astonishing over the last four years and has really raised the service level and the performance that we expect," Darr said.

Federal BEAD monitoring requirements are notably lighter than legacy Universal Service Fund programs, raising questions about whether networks will keep pace with rising capacity demand once construction wraps. Even fiber networks, he noted, can underperform if backhaul capacity is not sized correctly.

Unserved and underserved locations nationally dropped from about 6.2 million to 5.2 million in the past six months, with Vermont leading the country in proportional gains, reported Brian Allenby , director of state solutions at CostQuest Associates. Nearly a third of new fiber builds nationally land in areas that already have a fiber and cable connection, he noted, underscoring the need for strategic rural deployments. "It's a technology mix for how much, because that's really gonna drive a lot of what adoption looks like across these projects," Allenby said.

The country has reached "a very interesting juncture" where private capital has already filled many gaps that once justified subsidy, said Paroma Sanyal , principal at consulting firm Brattle Group. She said BEAD represents "an econometrician's dream" because granular treatment across counties will allow rigorous study of which technologies drive results.

Affordability, workforce and compliance define the next phase

"If you cannot measure it, it is very hard to understand the impact," Sanyal said, urging broadband offices to build common metrics tied to economic outcomes.

She flagged the affordability gap, noting roughly 60 percent of adults in households earning under $30,000 do not subscribe to fixed home broadband, compared with 95 percent in households earning over $100,000. Workforce shortages and rising labor costs, she added, could blunt the program's gains.

Capital Projects Fund work is producing visible outcomes, and a potential CPF extension has eased anxieties about clawbacks, said Karen White , vice president of the National Broadband Practice at Michael Baker International.

She cautioned providers about the heavier oversight regime ahead. "The states have to, because of the federal requirements, monitor very closely not only the speeds and the technology pieces, but that administrative, operational, reputational aspect," White said.

Vermont has climbed from 17.5 percent fiber coverage in 2019 to roughly 74 percent today, with 97 percent of locations now covered by some technology, said Alexei Monsarrat , director of Vermont's BEAD program at the Vermont Community Broadband Board. The state's non-deployment program is now expected to exceed its construction allocation.

"It's not only about the cost of the service you're receiving, but the value that you're getting from it," Monsarrat said, framing affordability, devices and digital skills as the persistent gaps. He cited Vermont's affordable long-drop program as a model for ensuring map-served locations translate into actual household connections.