BEAD Goes Live, Built on Tarana ngFWA

Milestone Announcement

First BEAD-Funded ngFWA Deployments Go Live

Vistabeam and Nextlink Connect the Nation's First BEAD-Funded Subscribers

This week marks a defining moment for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. Vistabeam and Nextlink, two independent ISPs, are showing how ngFWA (next-generation fixed wireless access) closes the digital divide faster and at a fraction of the cost of fiber, reaching communities others can't.

800 / 200 Mbps
8x the BEAD requirement

First BEAD-Funded Household in the Nation

Vistabeam connected the program's first BEAD-funded subscriber in Nebraska at fiber-class speeds, far beyond the 100/20 Mbps requirement.

View Vistabeam Release
104 locations
Up to 1 Gbps

First BEAD-Funded Tower in the United States

Nextlink activated its first BEAD-funded tower in rural Louisiana, bringing gigabit-capable broadband to communities that have been hardest to reach.

View Nextlink Release
Two people standing outside a brick home in rural Nebraska
Meet Kevin and Deb Armknecht of Ogallala, Nebraska. Thanks to Vistabeam, their farm was the first BEAD-funded household connection in America.
Throughput readout showing 835.49 Mbps downlink, 229.19 Mbps uplink, and 17.38 ms latency
Measured ngFWA performance at the household: 835 Mbps down, 229 Mbps up, 17 ms latency. Over 8x BEAD's 100/20 Mbps minimum.

ngFWA is Accelerating Broadband For All

Learn More About ngFWA