WASHINGTON, July 20, 2026 \u2013 The Commerce Department approved Friday California\u2019s spending plan under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.<\/p>\n
That now leaves Illinois as the only state that has yet to receive permission to fund projects with its slice of the $42.45 billion program\u2019s funding. Most other states<\/a> received approval in late 2025 or early 2026.<\/p>\n California received the second largest allocation under the program with more than $1.8 billion.<\/p>\n California\u2019s approved plan<\/a> would reach about 270,500 homes and businesses, down from the 339,000 locations in the state\u2019s draft plan<\/a> released last year.<\/p>\n Of the approved locations, California would fund fiber to 53 percent, low-Earth orbit satellite to 27 percent, and fixed wireless to 20 percent. That\u2019s compared to the draft plan\u2019s 44 percent fiber, 41 percent LEO, and 15 percent fixed wireless.<\/p>\n The actual numbers of locations getting fixed wireless and fiber didn\u2019t significantly change between the draft and the newly approved plan \u2014 fiber shrunk by about 5,000 and fixed wireless grew by about 1,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n The large reduction in locations came mostly from LEO. Those locations were reduced by nearly half, falling to 73,000 from the draft\u2019s 138,000.<\/p>\n California is set to spend $1.4 billion, or about 70 percent of its allocation, on deployment projects. That level of spending is rare after Trump administration changes aimed at reducing project costs.<\/p>\n Commerce\u2019s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has asked states<\/a> to remove certain locations from their LEO awards, citing new federal maps that show expanded terrestrial coverage, or that the location in question is not a home or business.<\/p>\n An NTIA spokesperson said in an email that California\u2019s approved results incorporated those changes.<\/p>\n Other states, which are further along in the BEAD process, will have to amend contracts with satellite ISPs or incorporate the changes as they work toward those agreements.<\/p>\n That request applies to about half the LEO locations in multiple states, state officials said last week. An analysis<\/a> from New York Law School found 35 percent to 42 percent of satellite locations across the program could be affected.<\/p>\n