Volume II of the BEAM Initial Proposal provided that Mississippi BEAD project areas would originate with county supervisor districts and take into consideration other factors as necessary. After extensive analysis of the number of BEAD eligible locations, permitting or geographical obstacles (rail, rivers, etc.), estimated cost per passing, and provider return on investment; BEAM has now finalized project areas for BEAD funding.  Mississippi will fund only those locations that are BEAD eligible within the project areas. The project areas reflect awards made in Mississippi’s CPF Grant Program and results of the Mississippi Challenge Process. A CSV file of BEAD eligible locations and KML file of project areas are provided at www.Broadbandms.com/register/bead 

Before finalizing project areas, BEAM requested additional information regarding posted data and actual service availability from internet service providers within the state. Due to regulatory lag, BEAM does not have access to the most recent submissions from Mississippi providers for the Broadband Data Collection (BDC). As a result, BEAM had identified numerous locations across the state that showed as unserved in BDC data and were included in the proposed project areas -- but were most likely served. The BDC data determines the locations that BEAM is required to list as unserved and BEAD eligible. Unserved locations may have been inadvertently missed during BDC reporting while other locations may not have a true residential structure. Whatever the case, the BEAM office requested input from local providers to determine the true status of these locations and incorporated the information into the final project areas.