Nearly five years after the U.S. Congress allocated funding for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, 79% of locations that had been identified as needing broadband internet are covered.

It sounds rosy, but BEAD hasn’t been responsible for any of it.

That’s according to a new report from The Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute (ACLP) at New York Law School, authored by Senior Fellow Alex Karras and Director Michael Santorelli.

“None of this is BEAD’s doing as ISPs have not sat idly by waiting for funding from this program,” reads the report, “Sizing Up Another BEAD Round Using the Ever-Changing BEAD Map.”

In addition to locations that have gained broadband service since 2022, the decrease in unserved locations includes locations that are no longer considered serviceable or that are covered by a federal program other than BEAD, such as the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

The count of eligible locations has fallen from about 11.9 million to about 3.7 million. That’s a decline of 69%, based on the methodology the group laid out in its July 2025 report about shrinking the digital divide.

“Whichever way one approaches these figures, the problem points in the same direction: the universe BEAD was created to address has shrunk dramatically,” the report said. “However, the number of locations that still lack adequate service is not the same as the number still needing a funding solution.”

Despite what the report calls “ceaseless buildout,” the first round of BEAD is still expected to serve about 16% of remaining serviceable locations. That would leave more than one million locations unserved, by ACLP’s count.

A second round of BEAD, announced in early September, could fill the gap with supplemental funding anywhere from $5.3B to $8.8B, the ACLP report estimates.

That money would likely come from the $21 billion left over from the original $42 billion allocated, leaving $12 billion or more unspent. That figure could change, though, because reaching locations that are still unserved is likely to be both difficult and expensive.

The ACLP proposes creating a Reserve Fund that would be seeded with this leftover funding “to make certain the digital divide actually closes.” The fund could be tapped in case of defaults or cost increases due to rising material and labor costs and delays related to utility poles and permitting.

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Clearwave Fiber and Point Broadband — which operates under the Clearwave brand — have signed a definitive agreement to join with Visionary Broadband. If the deal closes, the combined company will provide fiber and fixed wireless broadband to about 700,000 addresses across 17 states in the southeast, Midwest, and west.

A Clearwave representative told Telecompetitor that the two companies have not yet decided under which name the combined company will do business.

“Visionary has been first to bring fiber to many of our communities,” Visionary CEO Brian Worthen said in a press release. “We are still the same company as when we started thirty-two years ago: customer- first, gritty, ready for anything. Combining Visionary with Clearwave gives us the scale to build fiber faster.” 

Clearwave CEO David Armistead said that the reach of the new company can benefit subscribers by leveraging scale and good work and business practices.

Though precise titles were not included in the press release, it does say that Armistead will lead the company and Worthen would seek to grow the company in the west and work on “initiatives important to company growth.”

The financial arrangements, when the deal is likely to close or other details were not discussed. Investors GTCR and Berkshire Partners will work with the newly formed company. 

In early January 2026, Point Broadband and Clearwave Fiber said that they planned to join forces. That deal — which closed in early May — created a company that reached 500,000 homes and businesses in 12 states. The focus of both companies at the time was the southeast and Midwest. 

In April 2025, Visionary acquired MTWeb, a Montana-based provider. At the time, Visionary said that the acquisition would expand its presence in the central area of the state, including the Whitehall, Twin Bridges, Pipestone, and Cardwell areas.

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AT&T Business and Amazon Leo have agreed to bring broadband services to AT&T Business customers nationwide, making AT&T is the first major U.S. telecom provider to offer converged connectivity solutions that include Amazon Leo’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services.

With the agreement, AT&T Business customers have multiple access connectivity options, which the company said is a response to “growing customer demand for solutions that extend beyond any single-access technology.”

Many of the details of the combined AT&T Business and Amazon Leo service have yet to be finalized. Details regarding service availability, pricing, and specific product configurations for enterprise customers will be announced in the coming months. 

According to AT&T Business’ announcement, the benefits of the partnership with Amazon Leo will include: 

• Enhanced network resilience and redundancy across technologies spanning terrestrial and satellite networks
• Extended geographic reach to remote, rural, and previously underserved areas via Amazon Leo
• Business-grade managed services powered by AWS and backed by AT&T’s experience. 

“Customers have no shortage of connectivity options. What enterprise and public sector customers need is a connectivity platform that delivers greater reliability,” Shawn Hakl, AT&T Business senior vice president and head of product, said in a prepared statement about the Amazon Leo deal.

The AT&T Business press release said the company’s “confidence in Amazon Leo is grounded in extensive technical validation.” Still, though, Amazon Leo has yet to launch public service, though earlier this summer they announced that they plan to do so this year.

Nevertheless, Amazon Leo for Government was one of five companies recently awarded grants by the U.S. Space Force to develop and demonstrate space-based data transport to be used in the Space Data Network (SDN), according to Space Systems Command.

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Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr announced today that the Commission will vote this month on a package of permitting reforms designed to modernize how the agency applies the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Carr said the changes would cut billions of dollars in regulatory red tape while speeding the buildout of high-speed internet infrastructure.

Carr circulated an Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to his fellow commissioners for consideration at the FCC’s September 30 open meeting. If adopted, the Order would revise the FCC’s NEPA rules so they align with the amended NEPA statute and shorten the federal permitting process.

A central piece of the Order would codify the statutory definition of “major Federal action” — the threshold that triggers a federal agency’s NEPA obligations — and clarify which FCC actions meet it. 

Under the proposal, more than 14,800 wireless deployments would no longer face evaluation under the Commission’s current NEPA checklist. The Order would also find that certain deployments tied to spectrum licenses and satellite earth stations — as well as space-based operations, such as the launch and operation of space stations — do not qualify as major Federal actions.

The item would streamline other parts of the Commission’s NEPA review as well, from categorical exclusions to environmental assessments and impact statements. An accompanying Further Notice would seek public comment on the agency’s National Historic Preservation Act framework, including how spectrum licensing relates to the review trigger under that law.

Carr framed the effort as part of the FCC’s Build America Agenda and a wider Trump administration push to simplify permitting. He also tied the reforms to the space economy, saying they would keep outdated environmental rules from holding back activity in orbit. “It is time to build,” he said.

The FCC pointed to a January 2026 report from NERA Economic Consulting, prepared for the wireless trade group CTIA, which estimated that the Commission’s legacy permitting rules would carry more than $2.2 billion in direct compliance costs between 2025 and 2035 and at least $7.5 billion in lost economic activity over the same period. A public draft of the item is expected on the FCC website ahead of the meeting.

The vote comes amid a broader effort in Washington to reduce broadband permitting delays. In July, the Senate Commerce Committee advanced the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act, sponsored by Senator John Thune of South Dakota. That measure has cleared committee but still awaits a vote by the full Senate before it could move to the House.

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Virtualized broadband solutions provider Harmonic has debuted cOS SensAI, a software system that gathers data from across a broadband provider’s network and consolidates it into a single view for operations teams, the company announced today. Harmonic described the product as vendor-agnostic, meaning it is designed to pull information from equipment and systems regardless of the manufacturer.

Harmonic said SensAI builds a continuously updated model of an operator’s network devices and the relationships among them, then correlates signals from thousands of sources to flag issues and, over time, automate the routine tasks operators repeat most.

The company said the system shows the reasoning behind each diagnosis rather than returning an unsupported conclusion. 

The tool also aims to reduce field costs. GCI — which serves remote communities across Alaska — expects Harmonic’s SensAI to help technicians fix problems rather than simply locating them and reduce repeat trouble tickets, according to the company’s Chief Technology Officer Troy Goldie.  

Harmonic said SensAI is intended to simplify triage, close skill gaps on operations teams, and turn per-subscriber data into fewer field visits. 

Harmonic Senior Analyst Joseph Attwood said in the announcement that operators need a foundational platform to pull data from varied sources and gain the end-to-end visibility required to connect signals across different devices and systems. Harmonic said several operators are already running SensAI on live networks.

The release extends Harmonic’s push to market AI-driven tools to broadband operators. That strategy was on display last year when Midco said it would deploy the company’s AI-enabled virtualized platform as part of a $500 million network investment.

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Ardmore Telephone Company and West Kentucky & Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative — WK&T — which have served communities across Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, have officially launched their combined brand: Cornerstone Connectivity.

Last week, Ardmore Telephone — which has served the rural community of Ardmore, Alabama since 1908 — held a ribbon-cutting last week to celebrate three things: The official launch of Cornerstone Connectivity, the expansion of its office, and its designation as a Smart Rural Community by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, according to a report from 256Today. 

The name change was first announced last April. “The name Cornerstone Connectivity says exactly what we have always believed in,” said WK&T CEO Karen Jackson-Furman in a statement at the time. “Reliable, high-speed internet shouldn’t be a luxury. It’s a key part of the foundation our communities are built on. We are proud to carry that mission forward under a new name that reflects it.”

The Smart Rural Community designation acknowledges providers and communities that use broadband to support economies, education, health care, public safety, and otherwise expand and improve the quality of life of its residents, according to the report.

WK&T was founded in 1951. It offers communications services based on more than 5,500 route miles of fiber and serving more than 38,000 residential and business customers. 

Cornerstone Connectivity, then still operating as Ardmore and WK&T, did well in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Ardmore was provisionally awarded a BEAD grant for $3,216,073 for fiber projects in Alabama, and WK&T was provisionally awarded $3,984,017 for fiber projects in Tennessee. Both companies were part of their respective states’ final BEAD proposals, which have been approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

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Airties has unveiled an agentic AI agent designed to provide customer service tools and automatically diagnose and fix connectivity issues. 

Named Airties Aura, the AI agent is designed to improve the broadband subscribers’ experience by improving first-contact resolution, identifying more issues, reducing truck rolls, increasing NPS, and providing other advantages, according to the announcement.

The agentic AI solution integrates with Airties’ overall ecosystem, powering all connected homes and businesses and works across broadband gateways, extenders, applications and connected devices.

Airties Aura includes the following AI capabilities:

• Automation, enabling agents to take controlled autonomous action based on clear recommendations.
• Tailored responses to the person making queries, including summaries for customer service representatives on a live call, diagnostic reports for network engineers, and plain-English explanations for customers.
• Human governance to ensure transparency and provides operators control of which actions run autonomously and which require approval.
• Automated and scalable anomaly and threat detection across home and small- to medium-business networks.

Turknet is the first operator to deploy Airties Aura within their existing Airties Home platform across households.

“As Türkiye’s next-generation telecommunications operator, we view artificial intelligence not simply as a technology that accelerates processes, but as a powerful enabler of better decision-making and continuous improvement in customer experience,” said Turknet CEO Cem Celebiler in a prepared statement about Airties’ new AI system. 

“By embedding the proactive, action-oriented capabilities of agentic AI into our customer experience, we aim to go beyond simply resolving connectivity issues. Our goal is to anticipate potential needs and identify problems earlier, enabling us to deliver a more seamless experience for our users. We see Airties Aura as a significant step forward in this journey.”

In a recent interview with Telecompetitor, Innovative Systems CEO Scott Alcott discussed the advantages agentic AI has offers for broadband providers.

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WASHINGTON, September 2, 2026 — Grain Management (Grain), a leading private investment firm focused on digital infrastructure and communications, has announced the completion of the strategic combination of Ritter Communications and Great Plains Communications to create Rightfiber. The combination was previously announced in June of this year.

Rightfiber unites two highly respected telecommunications providers, each with more than 100 years of successful history. Rightfiber is positioned to accelerate fiber broadband expansion, strengthen local communities, and deliver exceptional customer experiences across its expanded regional footprint.

“Today marks an exciting new chapter for our employees, customers, and communities,” said Heath Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of Rightfiber. “The combination creates an organization built on shared values, exceptional people, and a commitment to investing in the communities we serve. As Rightfiber, we are better positioned than ever to expand access to our world-class fiber connectivity while continuing to deliver the local service and relationships our customers have always counted on.”

Grain has supported both organizations’ growth through long-term investment in fiber infrastructure, operational expansion, and broadband accessibility. The completion of the combination creates a stronger platform for continued investment and future growth.

In conjunction with the merger, Rightfiber has entered into a $1.6 billion credit facility led by Fifth Third Bank, to fund continued organic growth as well as potential M&A.

“Our team is in place, the network is connected, systems integration is in process, and we have successfully funded our growth plan,” said Simpson. “Our next chapter is well underway.”

Rightfiber now:

• Serves more than 400 communities across 20 states
• Over 300,000 Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) passings through its 28,000-mile fiber network
• Provides expanded capabilities for residential customers, businesses, carriers, hyperscalers, and community partners
• Operates as one of the nation’s largest privately held telecommunications and fiber broadband platforms

Customers can expect a seamless transition to Rightfiber. Existing services, local support teams, and trusted relationships remain in place while customers benefit from the expanded capabilities, resources, and investments of the combined organization.

Rightfiber will continue investing in network expansion, technology innovation, and the communities it serves throughout its growing footprint. Additional information about the new organization is available at Rightfiber.com.

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CARTERET BOROUGH, N.J. (September 2, 2026) — The Northeast’s largest independent fiber internet provider is expanding its New Jersey footprint once again, with the Borough of Carteret next in line for its 100% fiber-optic network. Backed by a fully funded $8 million investment, GoNetspeed’s expansion will bring symmetrical internet speeds of up to 6 Gbps to more than 6,300 homes and businesses, expanding access to faster, more reliable connectivity across the Garden State.

With construction expected to be underway as early as spring of 2027, GoNetspeed anticipates the first Carteret homes and businesses to be connected by next summer. Those interested in learning more about GoNetspeed services can visit gonetspeed.com/nj/carteret.

“Strong communities are built on strong infrastructure, and reliable fiber internet has become an essential part of that foundation,” said Richard Clark, GoNetspeed president and CEO. “We’re excited to invest in Carteret and bring residents and businesses a new level of connectivity. Our work in New Jersey goes beyond expanding our network, it’s an investment in Carteret’s future and in the continued growth and success of communities across the state.”

GoNetspeed is accelerating its expansion across New Jersey, with Carteret joining a growing number of communities soon to be connected to the company’s 100% fiber internet network. Following recent investments in Parlin, East Brunswick, and Old Bridge, as well as ongoing construction in South River, GoNetspeed continues to expand access to faster speeds, more choice, and reliable connectivity for residents and businesses statewide, and across the Northeast.

With a legacy of innovation and a commitment to customer service, GoNetspeed is accelerating the expansion of its fiber networks across 11 states, including New Jersey through a combined initial investment of $110 million. GoNetspeed continues to deliver more fiber, more access, more speed, and better reliability to residents and businesses throughout our footprint. With access to 100% fiber internet, customers have access to symmetrical upload and download speeds, ranging from 500 Mbps to 6 Gbps. Learn more about GoNetspeed at gonetspeed.com.

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The Golden State Connect Authority (GSCA) has signed a design and construction agreement with FiberTel to move forward on the Golden State Fiber network, a last-mile public-private partnership intended to expand broadband connectivity across rural California.

Under the agreement, FiberTel will design and build fiber deployments in Alpine, Amador, Imperial, Mono, and Tehama counties, as well as the Town of Mammoth Lakes. The company will also complete Phase 2 of the buildout in Glenn County, where GSCA broke ground on Phase 1 in April 2026. 

The agreement builds on that Glenn County project, the network’s first. Across these initial project areas, the California network will span roughly 1,065 miles of fiber.

GSCA is a joint powers authority made up of 40 rural California counties working to increase access to affordable high-speed internet. Through Golden State Fiber, the authority is developing a publicly owned, open-access network that it will finance, construct, own, operate, and maintain.

The open-access structure reinforces that partnership model. With the public authority owning the infrastructure, multiple private-sector broadband providers can compete on the same network, an arrangement GSCA said increases customer choice and helps keep service affordable for rural communities.

The fiber public-private partnership project is backed by $110.9 million in bond financing and $185.4 million from the California Public Utilities Commission’s Last Mile Federal Funding Account.

FiberTel, a Quanta Services company, provides telecommunications network design, construction, and maintenance services.

With network construction and middle-mile agreements advancing, GSCA said it expects to break ground on its remaining projects and begin connecting residents and businesses in early 2027.

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