Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., applauded the Appalachian Regional Commission’s commitment of more than $30 million to help West Virginia meet matching required for federal broadband funding dollars on Thursday.

The state is required to come up with a minimum 25% match for the $1.2 billion it is slated to receive through the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program, which is funded through the National Telecommunication and Information Administration.

“The problem that has been discovered is that there is a match element to this,” Capito said. “Many of the (internet service) providers that are going to be moving forward with the development of these funds can’t manage the match.”

ARC recently approved $32,235,629 to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development to go toward the matching requirement in 18 West Virginia counties.

If the state is unable find the funds to put up its share of the match, it will lose out on the funding, Capito said.

“We’ve got to do this the right way, and this is a very helpful step for the ARC,” she said.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also commended the ARC for its commitment in a statement released Wednesday.

“I’m pleased ARC is investing more than $32 million to ensure more West Virginians have access to dependable, high-speed internet,” he said. “As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue working with federal, state and local officials to ensure everyone has broadband access in West Virginia.”

The West Virginia Department of Economic Development recently extended the deadline for pre-application for BEAD funding to May 30.

The mandatory pre-application phase enables applicants to demonstrate eligibility and capacity to compete for grants to expand broadband infrastructure to BEAD eligible locations. The BEAD Full Application Phase is scheduled to begin in June 2024.

“This extension provides additional time for pre-application while the state finalizes results of the BEAD Challenge Process,” said Kelly Workman, director of the Office of Broadband. “We encourage applicants to submit pre-applications well before the deadline for review and approval on a rolling basis.”

Allocation of the BEAD program’s overall $42 billion was based on the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Coverage map.

Capito and Manchin advocated for the FCC’s map to be updated to more accurately reflect broadband coverage in the state after the initial version was released in November 2022.

The version of the FCC map published in May 2023 showed more than 271,000 locations in West Virginia that do not currently have broadband internet access.