From BEAD to Buildout: Comparing BEAD Awards to ISP Footprints

Analysis of BEAD and FCC data quantifies the size of BEAD awards relative to providers’ current footprints. Some small and upstart ISPs will receive tens of millions in funding for expansions larger than their current footprint.

Key Takeaways

• We use FCC and BEAD data to determine the relative size of service territory expansion that will be underwritten with federal grants. To do so, we calculate an ‘expansion ratio’ by dividing the number of BEAD awarded locations by FCC reported locations. This is equivalent to the percent expansion of a given ISP’s territory.
• Why does this matter? The goal of this analysis, the first in a series aimed at getting to know the BEAD subgrantees, offers essential context for understanding the scale of the awards won by ISPs of different sizes. Intuitively, ISPs with smaller expansion ratios may find it more manageable to build BEAD-funded networks given their experience. Conversely, ISPs with a higher expansion ratio may encounter difficulty in expanding their service territory at such a large scale since they lack the bona fides of more established providers.
• This dynamic has been evident in previous federal funding programs, notably RDOF, where some of the largest awards were rescinded by the FCC because of concerns about the ability of relatively small providers to greatly scale their networks. The ACLP discussed these concerns in a previous analysis focused on ensuring that prospective BEAD subgrantees were rigorously vetted prior to award.

NoteFull Report Available

This post provides a summary of our BEAD Recipients vs FCC Footprint Analysis report, which includes tables of all ISPs included in the analysis, the states in which they will provide BEAD-funded service, and a detailed methodology.

Data Summary

Category	Providers	BEAD Locations	Support
Expanding 1% or Less	80	1,151,447	$5,111,753,487
Expanding 1%–10%	201	924,801	$5,095,787,668
Expanding 10%–50%	85	411,070	$2,662,564,430
Expanding 50%–100%	18	167,169	$1,025,859,291
Expanding 100% or More	24	424,197	$2,584,433,090
No match in FCC data	108	779,272	$2,782,124,951
Missing FRN	3	4,951	$14,664,929
TOTAL	519	3,862,907	$19,277,187,849

Analysis Overview

After more than three years, BEAD grants finally appear to be poised for award by the 56 states and territories that received a proportionate share of the $42B+ available to bolster broadband availability. Some states, like Louisiana, have received all the necessary federal approvals to begin deploying these funds. NTIA continues to review and approve these awards on a rolling basis.

So, who won BEAD funds? The ACLP has parsed all available Final Proposal data and identified approximately 519 different subgrantees (when grouped by parent company). Many of the winners are familiar, but some are not, and some appear to be completely unknown.

The following analysis is the first in a series that we will publish on BEAD subgrantees. This analysis offers a straightforward look at the extent to which BEAD recipients will use their funds to expand their service territories. To do so, we calculate an expansion ratio as such:

\text{Expansion Ratio} = \frac{\text{BEAD Awarded Locations}}{\text{FCC Reported Locations}}

An expansion ratio below 1 means the subgrantee will use BEAD funds to pass fewer locations than currently exist in its footprint. An expansion ratio above 1 means the subgrantee will use BEAD funds to more than double the size of their current footprint.

Why does this matter? In short, the following analysis provides essential context to understanding the scale of awards won by entities of different size. Many of the largest ISPs in the country won sizeable BEAD awards, but, per the analysis below, those funds will only expand their current service territory in a very marginal way. Conversely, numerous new or small ISPs have received BEAD awards that will subsidize deployments that will significantly multiply their current service territory. Subsequent analyses will offer additional information about these firms.

Intuitively, ISPs with smaller expansion ratios may find it more manageable to build BEAD-funded networks given give their experience and existing scale. Conversely, ISPs with a higher expansion ratio may encounter difficulty in expanding their service territory at such a large scale since they lack the bona fides of more established providers. Time will certainly tell whether this dynamic holds true. The ACLP will be closely watching.

Expanding 1% or Less

80 providers received a BEAD award 1% or less of their FCC footprint. Here are the top 10 by BEAD locations.

Provider	BEAD Locs	FCC Locs	Ratio	Support
Starlink	478,882	116,039,163	<0.01×	$668,588,581
Xfinity	241,691	38,548,725	<0.01×	$1,681,649,229
AT&T	180,800	65,215,306	<0.01×	$1,002,126,474
Spectrum	84,198	36,725,099	<0.01×	$468,522,947
Frontier	74,526	8,483,526	<0.01×	$612,081,255
Verizon	26,267	44,143,613	<0.01×	$235,114,695
Mediacom Xtream	23,082	2,643,612	<0.01×	$163,265,334
Ziply Wireless	8,456	1,127,207	<0.01×	$61,284,193
Point Broadband Fiber Holding LLC	6,138	762,140	<0.01×	$47,764,449
altafiber Network Solutions	5,724	1,115,916	<0.01×	$29,901,750

Expanding 1%–10%

201 providers received a BEAD award between 1% and 10% of their FCC footprint. Here are the top 10 by BEAD locations.

Provider	BEAD Locs	FCC Locs	Ratio	Support
Brightspeed	185,826	4,676,718	0.04×	$557,802,747
Nextlink	92,675	2,936,849	0.03×	$164,221,677
Windstream Western Reserve, Inc.	53,770	3,020,620	0.02×	$184,183,949
Astound Broadband	47,966	2,577,101	0.02×	$387,363,166
Wisper ISP, LLC	42,194	1,139,280	0.04×	$384,668,378
TWN Communications	31,485	1,590,048	0.02×	$28,240,748
Stimulus Technologies	31,327	813,281	0.04×	$382,329,954
Lightcurve	31,082	1,695,853	0.02×	$81,613,243
Bertram Communications	30,748	641,302	0.05×	$172,374,078
Bug Tussel Wireless LLC	21,029	739,231	0.03×	$83,843,580

Expanding 10%–50%

85 providers received a BEAD award between 10% and 50% of their FCC footprint. Here are the top 10 by BEAD locations.

Provider	BEAD Locs	FCC Locs	Ratio	Support
Conexon Connect LLC	50,124	387,217	0.13×	$225,982,163
Surf Internet	42,655	300,136	0.14×	$187,723,378
Aristotle Unified Communications	24,220	60,021	0.40×	$148,559,412
123.NET Inc	18,085	70,607	0.26×	$85,536,205
All Points Broadband	16,240	109,032	0.15×	$149,610,226
Waverly Hall Telephone	15,832	58,380	0.27×	$107,638,663
Fybercom LLC	15,165	145,160	0.10×	$86,453,890
Matanuska Telecom Association Inc.	10,485	58,251	0.18×	$108,433,617
TCW	9,699	26,287	0.37×	$14,678,523
Midwest Energy & Communications	9,577	87,434	0.11×	$59,437,634

Expanding 50%–100%

18 providers received a BEAD award between 50% and 100% of their FCC footprint. Here are the top 10 by BEAD locations.

Provider	BEAD Locs	FCC Locs	Ratio	Support
Swyft Connect	66,197	79,847	0.83×	$419,719,721
Citynet LLC	25,744	41,909	0.61×	$194,697,129
Mainstream Fiber Networks LLC	20,073	37,465	0.54×	$122,233,512
Premier Broadband	8,942	9,817	0.91×	$88,355,381
Ignite Broadband	7,841	15,164	0.52×	$11,691,893
American Samoa Telecommunications Authority	6,895	8,842	0.78×	$8,385,265
Steelville Telephone Exchange Inc	6,756	6,777	1.00×	$55,583,558
Swiftcurrent Connect	5,124	9,481	0.54×	$21,578,140
Boycom CablevisionInc	4,017	5,234	0.77×	$16,437,926
Cherry Capital Connection LLC	3,650	3,787	0.96×	$15,891,520

Expanding 100% or More

24 providers received a BEAD award exceeding their FCC footprint. Here are the top 10 by BEAD locations.

Provider	BEAD Locs	FCC Locs	Ratio	Support
Shawnee Telephone Company	139,217	14,588	9.54×	$784,013,178
Wecom Fiber	67,259	5,798	11.6×	$195,811,710
ZiTEL	49,015	18,458	2.66×	$146,773,754
IBT Connect	44,906	4	11226×	$111,392,682
Inland Cellular LLC	33,559	28,183	1.19×	$339,708,130
Pend Oreille PUD	23,717	3,245	7.31×	$130,581,883
Lyte Fiber, LLC	11,422	7,732	1.48×	$171,837,525
Maverix Broadband	10,232	6,702	1.53×	$103,125,198
Trace Fiber Networks	8,790	1,713	5.13×	$229,777,676
NEK Broadband	7,441	7,316	1.02×	$66,658,142

Unmatched Providers

108 providers couldn’t be matched to FCC data. Here are the top 10.

Provider	BEAD Locs	FRNs	Support
AMAZON KUIPER COMMERCIAL SERVICES LLC	405,409	1	$299,483,292
RESOUND NETWORKS LLC	88,903	1	$146,157,396
4 IP Technology and Media, LLC	32,091	1	$401,831,806
Navajo Nation	30,794	2	$286,969,138
Hometown Internet, LLC	27,935	1	$135,813,251
CBN Geneva LLC	21,189	1	$121,187,012
eCommunity Holdings, LLC	14,492	1	$84,247,957
INTUS SMARTCITIES, INC.	11,607	1	$57,268,193
CoreConnect (CocoNet Inc.)	10,275	1	$90,640,683
Spokane Regional Development Authority BROADLINC	9,844	1	$66,830,287

This includes new market entrants like Amazon Kuiper, but also likely reflects FCC Registration Number (FRN) mismatches between BEAD and FCC datasets, unmatched subsidiary companies, providers who haven’t filed availability data with the FCC, or other data issues.

Methodology

BEAD data comes from states’ BEAD Final Proposal files compiled by BroadbandExpanded and available here. FCC data comes from the National Broadband Map as of 2025-06-30.

States/territories included (54): AK, AL, AR, AS, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, GU, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MP, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY

Providers are matched by FRN (FCC Registration Number). Each BEAD subgrantee may have multiple FRNs; these are matched against FCC data and aggregated. The expansion ratio is BEAD locations divided by FCC locations.

Providers with multiple subsidiaries sharing the same FCC provider ID are consolidated in the tables above.

Of note, the location counts in this post and in our report do not incorporate unit counts, and look only at raw Broadband Serviceable Location (BSL) counts as provided in BEAD Final Proposal data files and from the National Broadband Map.

Additional information, including tables of all ISPs included in the analysis, the states in which they will provide BEAD-funded service, and a detailed methodology is available in our PDF report.