State Broadband Directors: BEAD ‘True-Up’ Won’t Close All Service Gaps

# What the 'true-up' round is

# What state broadband directors said Four state broadband directors spoke about the true-up round at the Tarana Wireless Connecting Communities Summit in Milpitas, Calif. They warned the round will correct some problems but will not finish the overall job of connecting every remaining unserved location. Their concerns fall into two main categories: exclusions and underfunding.

Exclusions: Some communities that still lack service will not be eligible for the supplemental money. Washington state offered a concrete example, citing roughly 1,000 underserved locations that cannot receive the supplemental funding under current rules.

Underfunding: Even where the true-up can be used, the available funding may not cover the actual costs of connecting certain locations. Directors warned the amounts available in some states could fall short, especially where costs have risen or challenging terrain and permitting issues increase deployment expense.

# Why locations were missed

# Where this leaves states and communities States can use the true-up round to pick up many of the sites that were clearly omitted. But directors said they expect remaining gaps and pockets of ineligible addresses to persist. For affected communities, that means continued uncertainty about whether and when they will receive federal support to build broadband infrastructure.

Officials at the summit highlighted practical consequences: states must decide how to prioritize limited remaining funds, reconcile evolving location counts, and address higher-than-expected costs on some awarded projects. Washington's note of about 1,000 ineligible locations illustrates why supplemental rounds can improve coverage but still leave material shortfalls.

# Short practical implications for stakeholders

• State offices will need to refine location lists and eligibility checks to maximize use of true-up funds.
• Providers should track changes in mapping and project status so they can identify potential true-up candidates or flag underfunded areas.
• Communities still without service should expect a mix of corrective actions and continued advocacy as some locations remain excluded.

# Bottom line The true-up round under BEAD is a targeted tool to fix specific mapping and project failures, and it will allocate additional money to many unserved addresses. It will not, however, be a catch-all solution. State officials expect some locations to remain without a clear funding path, and they flagged possible shortfalls where the true-up money does not match construction costs.