Frequently Asked Questions
BEAD Tracker
Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) is a National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) program that aims to connect every American to high-speed internet through the allocation of state grant funds. Details on the program can be found using the link below.
https://broadbandusa.ntia.gov/funding-programs/broadband-equity-access-and-deployment-bead-program
The data comes from the CSV files required by the NTIA for inclusion with the BEAD final proposal submissions and is sourced directly from state and territory websites. Minor data inconsistencies and formatting have been corrected, but otherwise, the data is published as-is.
The numbers reflect the final proposal data submitted to NTIA by states and territories to date. Some states and territories have not yet submitted their final proposals and are therefore not included in these calculations; however, they will be added in the future. And data is proposed until the NTIA grants final approval.
In addition, the NTIA is currently reviewing the final BEAD proposals submitted by states and territories. Some changes are expected as a result of this review process and will be incorporated as states and territories update their proposals. As Connected Nation is made aware of updates to the data submitted by states and territories to the NTIA, we will update the Tracker.
The numbers in the BEAD Tracker reflect to date the final proposal data submitted by states and territories to the NTIA and published on their respective websites. These figures may adjust as more states and territories update and release their final proposal data.
From the All Proposals tab in the top left corner, you can see how many proposals have been included in the Tracker.
Broadband Serviceable Location (BSL) is “a business or residential location in the United States at which mass-market fixed broadband Internet access service is, or can be, installed.”
Community Anchor Institution (CAI) are local organizations, such as schools, libraries, hospitals, and community centers, that provide essential services and act as hubs for community engagement and support.
The BSLs and CAIs included originated from the Fabric data and were refined during the BEAD Challenge process and up to the launch of the Benefit of the Bargain round.
The BEAD Tracker now includes multiple pages. The different pages can be accessed using the "All" and "Compare" buttons on top of the page. The first page shows All Proposals. The second page provides the ability to compare states and territories.
The cost per location represents the amount of funding needed to bring high-speed internet to each proposed broadband service location, excluding the provider’s share (match). It is calculated by dividing the total grant amount by the total number of proposed locations to be served, averaged across all projects within a state.
It is possible to compare as many states and territories as you like. To compare, navigate to the Proposal Comparisons tab and use the State / Territory filter to select the locations you want to compare. By default, all states and territories are selected.
The vertical blue dashed line on the Average Cost Per Location and Remaining Funds charts represents the national average.
This chart represents the total amount allocated by the NTIA for the states and territories currently included in the Tracker, which is $33.1 billion in the figure below. The red section represents the cumulative amount proposed for all projects in the final proposals of those states and territories ($15.12 billion in the figure below). The difference between these amounts represents the remaining funds.
On the All Proposals page, clicking a technology in the Distribution of Technology Types pie chart filters the Total Locations by Provider bar chart to only that technology.
As defined in the BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice, a Priority Broadband Project is "a project that provides broadband services at speeds of no less than 100 megabits per second for downloads and 20 megabits per second for uploads, has a latency less than or equal to 100 milliseconds, and can easily scale speeds over time to meet the evolving connectivity needs of households and businesses and support the deployment of 5G, successor wireless technologies, and other advanced services."
The map allows you to visualize the geographic distribution of various variables. The initial map shows the Average Cost per Location. To change the variable being mapped, select from the dropdown list under Mapped Variable in the top left.
The shading on the map represents the grouping (binning) that data are classified into for visual purposes. We used a Quintile method that divides the distribution of the data, in this example Average Cost per Location, into five groupings. The darker the red, the higher the distribution range of values. To see the actual value, hover your cursor over a state. Gray represents states that are not yet included in the tracker.
Unfortunately, the source technology limited our ability to effectively include the territories.