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  "description": "Despite federal promises to accelerate deployment, states are still waiting on approvals to access broadband funds.",
  "path": "/one-year-after-bead-restructured-some-states-still-cant-access-infrastructure-funding/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-09T21:30:55.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "three months behind",
    "See Breakfast Club Membership Options!",
    "See Breakfast Club Membership Options",
    "the June 6, 2025 restructuring",
    "touted the new direction",
    "rescind their awards",
    "states planned BEAD awards here",
    "in a post",
    "in remarks Tuesday",
    "four states"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, June 9, 2026 – The overhaul Republicans said would accelerate the nation’s largest broadband program has delayed it by at least a year.\n\nTwelve months later, some states have yet to receive federal approval to access infrastructure funding, just one provider is serving subscribers, and more than $22 billion in taxpayer money remains tied up in the Commerce Department where officials are three months behind a deadline for issuing new guidance.\n\nSee Breakfast Club Membership Options!\n\n\n                            See Breakfast Club Membership Options\n                        \n\nTrump administration officials argued the June 6, 2025 restructuring of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program would eliminate burdensome requirements and accelerate deployment. Speaking before Congress, Commerce Secretary **Howard Lutnick** touted the new direction as cost-cutting and “tech-neutral” and promised to expedite the program so that all funds would be distributed by the end of 2025.\n\nInstead, many states find themselves further from construction, with some preliminary awards unraveling as providers reassess their participation.\n\n“Changing guidance and expectations has delayed the program deployment at almost every stage,” Maine Connectivity Authority President **Andrew Butcher** told _Broadband Breakfast_.\n\nTwo of Maine’s successful BEAD ‘Benefit of the Bargain’ subgrantees, one national and one Maine-based, have opted to drop out and decline their awards due to uncertain timelines, increased costs, uncertainty around funding and rules, and difficulty finding program-compliant materials.\n\nIt’s an issue replicating across states, with multiple already announcing preliminary defaults sending them back to the drawing board once again.\n\nVermont Community Broadband Board Executive Director **Christine Hallquist** said one provider withdrew from the program due to the fact that all of their locations were built by another provider in the interim. A second provider considered withdrawing due to concerns that participation could affect funding it receives through a separate federal broadband program, but ultimately chose to remain in the program.\n\nTexas saw four of its tentative grant winners rescind their awards Friday, leaving 31,000 homes and businesses without a planned broadband connection. Nebraska similarly announced it would hold additional bidding rounds after three ISPs walked away.\n\n“‘Benefit of the Bargain’ requirements and restructuring have increased demand on Eligible Entities without reducing barriers or accelerating deployment,” Butcher said.\n\nHe said new contractual terms and conditions conveyed by NTIA in December, changing program guidance, increased environmental permitting complications, and uncertainty around the eligible use of remaining “non-deployment funds” require constant stewardship and elevated administrative effort.\n\nDespite the policy changes, Butcher said it is also important to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of NTIA staff who are equally caught in the middle navigating murky waters and working in good faith to achieve positive results.\n\n“The restructuring policy notice made things more difficult for everyone,” he said.\n\nIn the meantime, states find themselves stuck in a cycle of revisions – working once again to finalize subgrantee contracts, modify awards to reflect constantly changing eligible location amounts, and help providers navigate requirements.\n\nSee states planned BEAD awards here.\n\n“There's definitely delays now in terms of getting our questions answered,” Vermont broadband director **Christine Hallquist** told Broadband Breakfast, “there's just a lack of accountability in terms of timelines with the NTIA right now.”\n\nHallquist, who described Vermont's federal program officer as “one of the best in the country,” said officials' response times have lengthened.\n\n“When we asked our federal program officer questions before, he would get right back to us, but now it's got to go all the way up the chain,” she said, speculating most inquiries now appear to be routed to NTIA Administrator **Arielle Roth** or Chief of Staff **Brooke Donilon**.\n\nVermont received its notice of award from NTIA on March 4. From there, the state has six months to get grant agreements finalized, and is working toward a submission deadline of September 4.\n\n“We're hoping that by fall we can get the funding,” Hallquist said.\n\nHallquist said the program's restructuring nearly doubled the number of BEAD locations slated to receive satellite service, rising from roughly 8 percent to 14 percent of locations in the state's revised plans.\n\nShe said the shift could ultimately prove beneficial if it frees up more funding for non-deployment uses, though she added that Vermont is withholding judgment until NTIA releases additional guidance on the funding.\n\nThe state was originally allocated nearly $229 million under the federal BEAD program. However, following revised federal requirements, the state’s approved plan will unlock an initial disbursement of $92.8 million in implementation funding, with the remaining funds still subject to NTIA guidance.\n\nAsked how Vermont would use its remaining non-deployment funds, Hallquist said she hopes to continue investing in workforce development, digital education and artificial intelligence literacy programs.\n\nHallquist also pointed to fiber supply constraints that could affect projects as they move to construction.\n\nU.S. fiber manufacturers are estimated to have annual production capacity of roughly 135 million fiber kilometers, compared to projected demand of 434 million fiber kilometers from BEAD projects, data center construction, and existing commercial needs, according to information provided by VCBB.\n\nDespite changes, Hallquist said Vermont expects universal broadband coverage once all projects funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Capital Projects Fund, and BEAD are completed.\n\nUnder the state's projections, about 86 percent of locations statewide will ultimately be served by fiber, roughly 14 percent by hybrid fiber-cable networks, and about 0.3 percent by satellite service.\n\n### _Restructuring weakened legislative goals_\n\nThe restructuring drew fresh criticism this week from broadband policy analysts, who argued changes over the past year undermined the long-term infrastructure goals Congress envisioned when it created the program.\n\n“What the BEAD restructuring has really delivered so far is that fewer households will receive the kind of broadband service Congress had intended,” Dr. **Revati Prasad** , executive director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, wrote in a post Friday.\n\n“Before June 2025, states had been encouraged to invest in networks capable of meeting community connectivity needs for decades to come. The revised rules pushed states towards the lowest-cost option available. The result is fewer fiber network deployments and greater reliance on technologies that may be cheaper upfront but offer lower capacity, lower reliability, and have shorter lifespans,” Prasad wrote.\n\n“A program meant to make a generational investment in America’s digital infrastructure became an exercise in minimizing near-term costs,” she said.\n\nNTIA Administrator**Arielle Roth** continued to promote the administration’s broadband policies in remarks Tuesday before an audience of the Federal Communications Bar Association, where she stressed the importance of deploying broadband as quickly as possible.\n\nHer comments come as four states are still awaiting federal approval: California and Illinois are awaiting sign-off from the NTIA and NIST, while Mississippi and Oklahoma are still awaiting approval from NIST.\n\nAs states move forward, broadband officials called for federal guidance that provides flexibility to states.\n\n_Correction: This story has been updated to better reflect comments and clarifications provided by individuals interviewed for the article._",
  "title": "One Year After BEAD Restructured, Some States Still Can’t Access Infrastructure Funding",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-10T21:47:04.989Z"
}