LEO Satellite Networks and BEAD: Developing the Next Era of Connectivity
Connectivity can change a community’s access to opportunities in an increasingly digital economy, however, roughly 13% of Americans lack reliable access to broadband internet. Lack of connectivity can lead to significantly reduced economic opportunities compared to their more connected counterparts. Private industry investments are closing a significant portion of the connectivity gap, including the deployment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellites. However, there is still a need for public investment to fully connect America.
In 2021, Congress took a major step to address this issue by including the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program (BEAD) in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The program designates grants to U.S. states and territories for broadband deployment overseen by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). These grants can help subsidize the costs associated with fiber installation, fixed wireless infrastructure, or the reservation of capacity on a LEO satellite network.
As part of their funding proposal, state agencies accepted bids from broadband providers and scored them based on a set of criteria, which included whether or not the project qualified as a “priority broadband project”. The IIJA defined priority broadband projects as those that:
- Provided broadband services that meets the speed, latency, reliability, consistency in quality of service, and related criteria as the Assistant Secretary shall determine
- Ensure that the network built by the project can easily scale speeds over time to:
- • Meet the evolving connectivity needs of households and businesses
- • Support the deployment of 5G, successor wireless technologies, and other advanced services.
In 2022, the first Notice for Funding Opportunity was published. It laid out the performance criteria as minimum speeds of 100/20 Mbps and latency less than or equal to 100 milliseconds, and narrowed priority broadband projects to only include fiber networks.
In June of 2025, NTIA made significant changes to its policy guidance. The most significant change was the move from a fiber-first position to a technologically neutral position to include technologies such as hybrid-fiber coaxial, fixed wireless, and LEO satellites networks. NTIA then instructed all states and territories to submit their revised BEAD proposals within 90 days. Three states (Louisiana, Nevada, and Delaware) had already submitted their initial proposals and had to submit revised proposals.
Based on the final submitted proposals, LEO satellite networks are set to service nearly 21% of nationwide BEAD locations in exchange for roughly 4% of the BEAD deployment funding. The two main LEO providers, SpaceX and Amazon Leo, have been awarded the most locations in the BEAD program, servicing 472.6K and 415.0K locations respectively. Comcast and AT&T have been awarded the most amount of funding, receiving $1.77B and $1.05B respectively. Some states decided to provide a majority of their funding to LEO networks, such as Montana which will use LEO networks for 65% of their locations, and as of today, LEO networks will also provide service for nearly 60% of tribal community locations.
The final BEAD proposals highlight how LEO satellite broadband can work in balance with terrestrial broadband technologies to meet the needs of the customers. Take Montana for instance, which has a lot of households in remote areas that would present significant logistical and financial challenges for fiber installation, and thus the majority of locations will instead be able to utilize LEO satellite services. On the other end you have Delaware, which allocated 0% of its BEAD proposal (initial and revised) to LEO satellite services since small expansions to the existing fiber and coaxial infrastructure would service the majority of the unconnected locations.
Many states opted for a balance between satellite and terrestrial services to fit the needs of their citizens, such as Hawai’i which has highly dense cities such as Honolulu which can be served by fiber (82% BEAD locations) as well as remote communities separated by the Pacific Ocean and hard, volcanic rock that are better served by satellite services (18% BEAD locations).
In the second round of submissions Nevada and Louisiana each increased the share of locations serviced by LEO satellite providers from 9% to 29% and from 2% to 9% respectively. This further highlights how states are able to better optimize their broadband deployment strategy by taking advantage of LEO networks rather than utilize a single broadband technology for all locations.
The initial tranche of BEAD funding has already begun to be distributed to several states. At the same time, LEO satellite networks such as Amazon Leo and Starlink are rapidly expanding to keep up with demand, such that the first BEAD locations to receive service could be in the near future. And as each household and business gets online, we move ever closer to a fully connected America.
