The US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has not yet finalized the list of eligible locations for the next round of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, according to a report by Broadband Breakfast.

The disclosure matters because the eligible locations map determines where the remaining federal subsidy dollars can actually be spent. Until NTIA settles that list, states and internet service providers participating in the $42.45 billion program cannot lock in final project scopes for the new round.

What is still undecided?

The eligible locations list — the set of addresses deemed unserved or underserved and therefore open to BEAD funding — remains a work in progress at the federal agency. NTIA has restructured the BEAD round under the current administration's approach, which favors a technology-neutral stance and a lighter regulatory touch on participating providers.

That restructuring is the context for the delay. By shifting the program's rules away from the previous framework's preferences, NTIA has effectively forced a re-examination of which locations qualify and under what conditions providers can claim funding for them.

For state broadband offices, the unfinished map creates planning uncertainty. Each state must reconcile its own coverage data with the federal list before it can move to final subgrantee approvals and construction commitments. Providers, in turn, face a moving target when deciding whether to bid on specific census blocks.

Why the eligible locations list drives the money

BEAD works by directing grants to locations that lack adequate broadband, so the composition of the eligible list effectively allocates the program's practical reach. A location left off the list loses access to BEAD-funded builds; a location added late can reopen bidding in areas operators had already written off.

The technology-neutral rewrite also changes the commercial calculus. Under the revised approach, lower-cost deployment technologies can compete for funding without the fiber-first bias that shaped the program's original design, which providers of fixed wireless and satellite services had sought.

What comes next

Broadband Breakfast reports that NTIA is still working through the eligible locations determination, and no completion date for the list has been announced. States and carriers awaiting the final map will need the agency's determination before the restructured round can move from rulemaking to actual grant awards and shovels in the ground.