BEAD Final Proposal Released for Public Comment
COLUMBIA, SC — After nearly four years of planning, while concurrently making investments of $400 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the South Carolina Broadband Office (SCBBO) is pleased to announce that a draft of the South Carolina Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment SC BEAD Final Proposal has been released for Public Comment. All are invited to use the SC BEAD Final Proposal Comment form before September 26, 2025, at 11:59pm EST.
Due to the success of previous broadband investment rounds, together with the rapid construction progress by South Carolina’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the SCBBO only had 20,480 Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs) – less than 1% statewide - that needed BEAD investment. Therefore, by selecting 16 ISPs as BEAD finalists to receive $41,358,389, the SCBBO is working to solve South Carolina’s digital divide. The remaining BSLs represent only 16,191 residential, 3,946 business, and 343 community anchor locations. Broadband construction for the final BEAD locations is expected to begin after National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approval in early 2026 and complete in 2030. Please view the SC BEAD Interactive Map for visual reference.
BEAD funding was secured by Congress via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in November 2021. Based on an NTIA formula, South Carolina learned that its BEAD allocation was $551.5 million in June 2023. Therefore, based on the draft BEAD Final Proposal, South Carolina is only utilizing 7.50% of its overall allocation to cover statutory deployment requirements.
The SC BEAD Final Proposal identifies the following ISPs as finalists:
“Today’s release of the SC BEAD Final Proposal provides our plan for the anchor leg of the broadband investment relay race here in South Carolina,” said Jim Stritzinger, Director of the SCBBO. “With an extraordinary team, in just over three years, we completed four ARPA investment rounds representing $400 million, and $41.3 million in BEAD, to 22 ISPs. From SCBBO inception (July 2021), combined federal, state, and private investments resulted in service to over 200,000 locations. Additionally, nearly 99% of these recently constructed locations now have access to fiber – or will soon!”
From a technology perspective, the SC BEAD Final Proposal proposes to fund 51.3% (10,506 BSLs) with high-speed wireline technologies (Fiber/Hybrid Fiber-Coax) and 48.7% (9,974 BSLs) with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite.
Since inception and prior to BEAD, the SCBBO has funded high-speed wireline technology to 138,962 BSLs. When combined with other federal investments from the Federal Communications Commission (RDOF) and US Department of Agriculture (ReConnect), most broadband investment has been directed towards high-speed wireline technologies. This, in fact, is the reason Ookla Research determined “South Carolina is the only state where rural residents’ access to broadband outperforms those of urban residents.” Please visit the SCBBO Investments interactive map to learn more.
More information about the broadband grant programs administered by the SCBBO can be found at ors.sc.gov/broadband.
The SCBBO is housed within the state’s Office of Regulatory Staff. The SCBBO serves as the central broadband planning body to coordinate with federal, state, regional, local, and private entities, to the extent practicable, to engage in the continued deployment of broadband in the state.