Federal officials have approved Nevada’s plan to spend approximately $170 million of its nearly $500 million federal broadband award to extend high-speed internet to about 28,000 homes, businesses, and community organizations statewide, Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Thursday. The approval came after the Trump administration rescinded Nevada’s original broadband plan in June — weeks before construction was set to begin — under revised federal guidelines that favored satellite internet over fiber-optic technology.
The development is a key step in Nevada’s yearslong effort to bring reliable connectivity to remote areas where the absence of high-speed internet has constrained economic growth, though the revised plan covers fewer locations and relies more heavily on satellite technology than the state’s original proposal.
Revised scope and technology mix
Nevada’s original proposal would have brought broadband to about 50,000 locations, with 80 percent served by fiber-optic technology. The newly approved plan targets about 28,000 locations, with 64 percent served by fiber and 29 percent by low Earth orbit satellite.
The shift followed new federal guidelines, issued alongside the June rescission, requiring states to prioritize lower costs and apply “tech neutrality” — changes that gave satellite internet, which is cheaper but lower-performing than fiber, a larger share of BEAD funding. Nevada had originally favored fiber-optic technology because it carries no bandwidth capacity limit and is more easily expandable once installed.
SpaceX’s Starlink subsidiary is receiving approximately $2.4 million under the approved plan to bring broadband to roughly 2,800 locations. Starlink is the only company added to the state’s list of award recipients since the federal pause, according to the Associated Press.
“This is an essential investment in Nevada’s future,” Lombardo said in a statement Thursday.
Remaining funds and timeline
Nevada is still awaiting federal guidance on how it can use approximately $250 million remaining from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, which was created as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden in 2021. The governor’s office also announced $65 million in private-sector investment alongside the BEAD deployment.
Construction on approved projects will not begin immediately. The state must first sign contracts with internet providers and complete permitting before work can start.
Congressional response
Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat who co-authored the law that created the BEAD program, pledged over the summer to place holds on Senate nominees involved in broadband policy after the Trump administration revoked Nevada’s initial approval. Rosen did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Concurrent broadband effort
Nevada is also managing more than $200 million in coronavirus relief funds dedicated to broadband expansion that must be spent by the end of 2026. As of last month, the state had spent about 20 percent of those funds, according to the Associated Press. State officials expressed optimism that all of the money would be deployed before the year-end deadline.