States may need to cut one-third of BEAD satellite awards after broadband data update

Following recent updates to nationwide broadband-availability data, some states may be required to cut one-third of the awards they’d proposed to award to satellite internet companies through the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, according to an independent review published Tuesday.

The review, conducted by The Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School, was a response to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration recently asking states to review the funding eligibility of their satellite internet projects after the Federal Communications Commission updated its broadband location data. The report found that, overall, the average percent decrease of awards across the 47 states that had originally proposed to use BEAD funds to connect some locations with satellite internet is 33.77%. The highest decrease found was 75.4%, in Mississippi. The lowest decrease was in Rhode Island, where just 0.9% of satellite awards would potentially be impacted.

The findings, which the institute noted were only estimates, were based on states’ BEAD drafts or final proposal data, which the institute then compared to both the FCC’s National Broadband Map — last updated on July 1 — and the previous version of the FCC’s Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric. The latest fabric, which was updated on June 30, has not been made available to the public yet, but its update triggered the NTIA’s directive to states last week.

This newer FCC data, the institute said in its report, likely includes even more locations that have been served since the last update, in December 2025, which would further reduce the number of locations in need of satellite service, meaning the number of locations that may need to be removed from states’ BEAD award locations is probably greater.

The institute and other analysts have warned that the number of BEAD-eligible locations would continue to shrink over the lifecycle of the program, since it launched in December of 2022. The institute said last year that gradual reduction would likely be due to a mix of continued investment from internet service providers, always working to extend their networks, and the completion of additional grant-funded projects that closed internet service gaps BEAD money also would have been available to.

Before NTIA’s request to states last week, several states had already revised their awards, after their approved final proposal data had been released. South Carolina shared at the end of last month that it had reduced its prospective BEAD awards by half because those projects could be funded with existing, non-BEAD resources.

Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas, each of which had a significant number of satellite awards, confirmed to StateScoop that they were reviewing their locations. These were locations the NTIA had found to be “either non‑residential structures, such as barns or sheds, or are already served by terrestrial providers,” said a spokesperson with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, which houses the Texas Broadband Development Office.

Colorado’s broadband office confirmed last week that, based on the initial data, the state would remove funding for approximately 33% of its awarded satellite locations. This figure is higher than the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute’s findings of Colorado needing to decrease its satellite awards by 25.5%. The discrepancy could be explained by the gap between the most recent FCC data and the data that’s available publicly.

The changes come as the BEAD program moves into its final phases, with most states and territories now having completed their planning and having received approval from the NTIA to award grants to internet service providers. The NTIA said that the current remediation demonstrates the agency’s “commitment to due diligence and fiscal responsibility.”

“NTIA’s goal is to ensure BEAD funds are targeted to eligible locations and are not used where program support is unnecessary,” an NTIA spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “For locations depicted as served by another provider, NTIA is empowering states to exercise their local judgment, as states are best positioned to assess on-the-ground conditions. This approach is consistent with NTIA’s May 2026 FAQs.”