$1.2 Billion for Broadband on Way to West Virginia

CHARLESTON — Thanks to recently updated coverage maps, West Virginia is set to receive its largest amount of federal broadband infrastructure dollars to date.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced Monday morning from the White House the next round of broadband expansion funding for states from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in 2021 and negotiated by U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin.

“It’s the biggest investment in high-speed internet ever,” Biden said, pledging that every household in the nation would have access to service by 2030. “For today’s economy to work for everyone, internet access is just as important as electricity, water and other basic services.”

“In the 21st century in America, high-speed internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” Harris said. “Every person in our nation, no matter where they live, should be able to access and afford high-speed internet … today, we are here to continue our work together to connect every person in America with high-speed internet.”

West Virginia is set to receive $1.21 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The $1.21 billion for West Virginia is coming from the NTIA’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program for broadband expansion through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with more than $42 billion in funding to be distributed nationwide by the NTIA.

Manchin attended Biden’s broadband announcement at the White House, receiving a shoutout from Biden.

“I’d like to thank Joe Manchin, standing all this time,” Biden said. “He’s a friend. Hi, Joe Joe.”

Later Monday afternoon, Manchin held a virtual briefing with reporters joined by Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Manchin compared Monday’s broadband announcement to the efforts in the 1930s to expand access to electricity to rural America.

“I heard my grandparents talk about rural electrification back in the ’30s after (President Franklin) Roosevelt got elected and maybe 10% to 15% of West Virginia had electricity because we were so rural,” Manchin said. “With that rural electrification, it changed people’s lives. It really did. The same thing’s going to happen with this. And that’s why we fought so hard.”

Raimondo said states can begin submitting their BEAD plans as early as July 1, but no money can be allocated until the Department of Commerce approves those plans. The state Department of Economic Development has been working on its BEAD plan since last year. States will have 180 days to submit their initial proposals.

“This is a huge day for West Virginia. West Virginia will be receiving more than $1.2 billion, which is enough money to finally connect every resident of West Virginia,” Raimondo said. “In order for us to approve the state’s plan, we need to be convinced that everyone will have internet at a price they can afford … we are putting a lot of pressure on the internet service providers.”

“We’re pretty far down that road,” Manchin said. “We’ve had good support all the way through.”

Speaking by phone Friday in anticipation of Monday’s broadband funding announcement, Capito, R-W.Va., said West Virginia would not have received as much funding had the Federal Communications Commission not completed an overhaul of its broadband coverage maps. Capito is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which oversees the NTIA.

“The great thing for West Virginia is we required in the legislation the maps be accurate because this is supposed to be directed to unserved and underserved areas,” Capito said. “The money will be distributed in priority to those people. West Virginia is going to be a big winner here because we still have, unfortunately, too many people unserved and underserved.”

The FCC announced an update to the National Broadband Map at the beginning of June, adding an additional 1 million locations nationwide, including 330,000 new homes and businesses. In West Virginia, more than 86,000 unserved parts of the state were added in the new National Broadband Map update, bringing the total unserved locations in the state to more than 271,000.

The updated map is based on more than 4 million challenges by citizens, businesses, and local and state governments. After review, the FCC resolved 3.7 million of those challenges, resulting in approximately 2 million locations removed and 3 million new locations added, an increase of more than 1 million sites nationwide needing access to broadband.

“The way it was written before is that if you’re part of a census tract and one person is served, they count the whole census tract served,” Capito said. “In this new reformulation of the maps, it’s granular. It’s down to every single house and every single property owner, so that is very significant. Also, it will target money towards those really hard-to-reach areas or those that have been unreached to this point.”

Including previous funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, West Virginia is sitting on more than $2 billion for broadband expansion.

The West Virginia Department of Economic Development, through its Office of Broadband and the state Broadband Enhancement Council, developed its own interactive maps showing in greater detail parts of the state with no service or slow service.

“We’ve always heard it just takes time and money. Well, here’s the money and I think we’re going to cut the time,” Capito said. “People have really been chomping at the bit here because obviously the infrastructure package came out a year ago in November, and everybody’s like, ‘where’s the money? Where’s the money?’ Well, it’s coming.”