The Trump administration has signed off on Nevada’s proposal to use the first chunk of its nearly half-billion-dollar federal award for expanding broadband infrastructure — a positive development after the administration enacted new rules last year that put the project on hold. 

Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Thursday that federal officials had approved the state’s plan to use about $170 million to expand high-speed internet access to about 28,000 locations (such as homes, businesses and community organizations) across the state. The state had previously received approval for an earlier plan to bring broadband to about 50,000 locations, predominantly through fiber-optic technology, but it was rescinded by the Trump administration, which was seeking more satellite internet projects.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose subsidiary Starlink provides satellite internet, is the only company to have been added to the state’s list of award recipients since the pause. It is receiving about $2.4 million to bring broadband to roughly 2,800 locations.

The state is awaiting further federal guidance on how it can use the roughly $250 million left from the 2021 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, which was part of the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden.

Construction on the projects will not begin immediately, as the state still needs to sign contracts with internet providers and finalize permitting.

The rescission of the initial plan in June came weeks before construction was set to begin. It also came alongside new federal guidelines calling for tech neutrality and requiring states to prioritize lower costs — giving satellite internet, which is cheaper but lower-performing, a likely bigger share of BEAD contracts. Nevada’s initial proposal favored fiber-optic internet because it has no bandwidth capacity limit and is easily expandable once in place.

Under the newly approved award, 64 percent of the unserved locations in Nevada will be served by fiber, a decrease from the 80 percent mark in the original plan, while 29 percent will be served by low Earth orbit satellite.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), one of the authors of the law that created the BEAD program, pledged over the summer to put a hold on nominees who work on broadband after the Trump administration revoked the initial approval.

Rosen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

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The approval is a key step for Nevada’s yearslong efforts to achieve high-speed internet across the state, including in remote corners where unreliable connectivity has held back economic growth. The state has also embarked on its own broadband expansion project using more than $200 million in coronavirus relief funds that must be spent by the end of 2026. The state had spent only about 20 percent of these dollars as of last month, but officials have expressed optimism that all the money will be used ahead of the year-end deadline.

In a press release Thursday, the governor’s office also announced $65 million in private sector investment as part of the BEAD deployment.

“This is an essential investment in Nevada’s future,” Lombardo said in a statement.