April 25, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Kansas, Nevada, and West Virginia’s Initial Proposals for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.[1]

The Initial Proposals detail how each state plans to spend their BEAD allocation by providing grants to deploy high-speed broadband to all unserved and underserved locations within their borders.

Kansas, Nevada, and West Virginia may now request access to funding and begin implementation of their BEAD broadband grant programs. However, all are awaiting NTIA approval of the results of their challenge processes. The three states were allocated the following amounts under BEAD: Kansas – $451.7 million; Nevada – $416.6 million; and West Virginia – $1.2 billion.

All states submitted their Initial Proposals by December 27, 2023. NTIA will continue to announce approval of initial proposals on a rolling basis. Updates on the status of other U.S states and territories’ Initial Proposals are available online from NTIA’s Bead Initial Proposal Progress Dashboard page.

The BEAD Program will provide $42.45 billion to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. States and territories will select and award BEAD Program funding to “subgrantees” for the deployment of broadband networks and projects. Subgrantees will be required to deploy their planned broadband networks and begin providing services within their project areas not later than four years after the date on which they receive their BEAD Program grant a state or territory. The BEAD Program will prioritize grant funding first for the expansion of broadband internet access to unserved locations (no access to Reliable Broadband Service at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps) and then to underserved locations (no access to Reliable Broadband Service at speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps).

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[1] Biden-Harris Administration Approves Kansas, Nevada, and West Virginia’s “Internet for All” Initial Proposal, NTIA, Press Release (Apr. 25, 2024), https://www.ntia.gov/press-release/2024/biden-harris-administration-approves-kansas-nevada-and-west-virginia-s-internet.