Now that Indiana has finalized more than $400 million in grants for the largest government-backed expansion of rural broadband in state history, it will be allowed to spend even more federal funding on the initiative.
The Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, better known as BEAD, was first approved by Congress in 2021. Indiana originally was awarded $868 million but later was limited to spending about half of that because of changes made last year after the transition from the Biden to the Trump presidency.
This fall, however, the Trump administration gave Indiana and all other participating states the authority to conduct a second round of bidding under BEAD to reach more homes and businesses that remain without adequate internet service.
Still, the states aren’t expected to be able to immediately spend much of the $21 billion remaining from the original $42.45 billion allotted nationally.
The new round comes as Indiana has finished signing contracts with 24 internet providers for roughly $418 million in federal grants that will serve more than 122,000 homes and businesses in nearly all of the state’s 92 counties.
By the time administrative costs, project overruns and potential defaults from the first round of grants are taken into account, the state expects to have more than $300 million of its original allocation remaining, said Megan Minor, Indiana’s chief broadband officer.
But under strict new guidance from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Indiana’s second round of grants probably will only use up to about $60 million to serve roughly 15,000 more addresses, Minor estimated.
It is unclear whether the federal government will allow the states to use the remainder for other technology efforts or force them to give up the money.
First round of grants
Indiana’s first round of BEAD grants came in about $65 million below what state officials anticipated earlier this year, but the state expects to award additional money as it recruits more internet providers to serve approved locations left uncovered by the initial contracts.
Minor said other providers have agreed to serve some of the affected locations, while the state is still negotiating with additional vendors to cover the remaining addresses. She expects the total amount of first-round grants to increase as those negotiations are completed.
Is broadband coming to your rural neighborhood?
Hoosiers can find out if their household or business will receive access to new broadband internet service by entering their address into a mapping service on the Indiana Broadband Progress Hub.
The database provides address-level details about which provider will be delivering the service, when it is expected to be available and the anticipated upload and download speeds.
The first-round awards were made after the Trump administration ordered a major overhaul of the BEAD program in June 2025, requiring states to reopen their selection processes and give lower-cost technologies greater consideration.
Under rules established during the Biden administration, the program favored fiber-optic installations, which generally provide faster and more reliable service but are more expensive to build, particularly in sparsely populated rural areas.
The Trump administration required states to consider alternatives such as fixed wireless and low-Earth-orbit satellite service on a more equal footing. It called the new competition the “Benefit of the Bargain” round, arguing that the changes would stretch federal dollars further.
Critics argued the overhaul would delay projects and leave some rural residents with less reliable service than they would have received under the original rules.
Even after the changes, Indiana’s grants remain heavily weighted toward fiber. Minor estimated about 75% of the locations will receive fiber service, roughly 15% satellite service and most of the remainder fixed wireless. A small percentage will receive service through a hybrid of cable and fiber.
The largest individual grant, nearly $150 million, went to Strategic Management LLC, which operates under the name Helexon and is planning a major fiber-optic expansion across four Midwestern states. Its Indiana efforts are spread throughout the state.
Nashville-based Mainstream Fiber Networks also emerged as one of the largest recipients, with four grants totaling more than $122 million for affiliate projects in Greene, Cass, Wayne and Madison counties.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service was awarded $26.4 million.
Three rural electric cooperatives also received substantial grants to extend broadband service into their service areas. Greenfield-based NineStar Connect was awarded $16.7 million. Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative, an Ohio-based company that serves northeastern Indiana, received $13.2 million and Decatur County REMC in Greensburg landed $7.1 million.
The grants require internet providers to cover at least 25% of their project costs. According to the Indiana Broadband Office, the winning providers have committed more than $300 million in matching funds, bringing the combined public and private investment for the first round of grants to more than $700 million.
Construction has not yet begun on the projects, although several providers are working through required federal environmental and historic-preservation reviews. The state expects some construction to begin this fall and all projects to be completed by the end of 2030.
A second round, tighter restrictions
The announcement of a second round of grants already has vendors excited about future possibilities.
“From a statewide perspective, the announcement of an additional round of BEAD funding provides Indiana’s electric cooperatives an opportunity to help close the digital divide by providing quality internet service to those areas of Indiana that remain unserved,” said Mandy Barth, vice president of communication and member engagement for Indiana Electric Cooperatives.
But the additional grants will operate under considerably tighter restrictions than the first round, limiting both the locations eligible for funding and the amount of money Indiana can spend.
The new federal guidance issued last month creates what the National Telecommunications and Information Administration calls a “true-up” round, intended to identify homes and businesses that were overlooked during the original selection process.
Minor said those could include addresses missing from Federal Communications Commission broadband maps or locations that were supposed to receive service through another state or federal program before a provider withdrew.
But unlike the first round, which included both “unserved” and “underserved” locations, the second round will be limited to those classified as unserved.
Under federal definitions, an unserved location lacks internet service providing download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 3 mbps.
Underserved locations have service meeting the 25/3 mbps threshold but fall short of 100 mbps for downloads and 20 mbps for uploads.
The second major restriction involves the amount of money states can spend.
Rather than allowing Indiana to use its remaining BEAD allocation, NTIA will calculate a spending limit based on the state’s average subsidy per location in its original first-round proposal.
For Indiana, that figure is approximately $3,900 per address.
Minor estimates the federal government will identify between 10,000 and 15,000 additional Indiana locations eligible for the second round. Based on the federal formula, that would allow Indiana to spend roughly $39 million to $58.5 million in additional grants.
Those figures are preliminary. The actual number of locations and the state’s spending authority will depend on the list NTIA provides and the results of a subsequent review.
“Yes, we do get to use some of these funds,” Minor said. “It’s good to be able to catch up on locations, but it is certainly not even a majority of the funds that will go towards this effort.”
The second round also will require another lengthy selection process.
First, NTIA must provide Indiana with its list of potentially eligible addresses. The state will review that list and make it public, allowing internet providers to challenge the eligibility of locations they believe already have adequate service.
Once those challenges are resolved, Indiana will solicit applications from providers interested in serving the remaining addresses, negotiate awards and submit its selections to NTIA for final approval.
Minor said she does not expect to receive the initial federal list until January or February 2027.
From that point, she estimates the review, bidding and federal approval process could take another 180 to 210 days, pushing final awards into the second half of 2027.
The additional grants would move Indiana closer to its goal of universal broadband coverage, but they would leave a substantial portion of the state’s original federal allocation unspent.
NTIA has indicated that additional guidance on other uses of the money will come later, leaving open the question of whether Indiana eventually will be permitted to spend the rest of its allocation.
Greg Weaver is an FPI News freelance contributor. You can reach him at gregoryeweaver@gmail.com.
FPI News, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations. Sign up for our free newsletter.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
