CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the Federal Communications Commission finalizes nationwide broadband coverage maps, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito says it’s important to make sure West Virginia is getting the funding to complete expansion projects to serve more homes and businesses.
More than 86,000 new unserved locations in West Virginia have been added to the FCC’s updated broadband coverage map.
Capito (R-W.Va.) said there were more challenges than that.
“We had over 120,000 challenges to the original map that we thought were inaccurate and in reality, the FCC recognized that 80,000 of those 120,000 were actually unserved or underserved areas. It means that the dollars that are coming out for unserved or underserved will be going to our states,” Capito said during the weekly Senate Republican Leadership press conference Tuesday.
Last month, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) applauded the updates.
“This is exactly why I fought for years to fix the map and included a process so that anyone could challenge its accuracy. I will continue to do everything I can to ensure we have the funding we need for every West Virginian to get access to reliable, affordable broadband,” Manchin said in a statement.
Manchin and Capito have worked to allocate funds to each state through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law based on their proportion of unserved areas, requiring that funding be based on updated maps, and establishing a challenge process to give states, communities, and individuals a voice in the process.
Capito said the money needs to be invested in communities that don’t have reliable internet.
“As these maps move forward and as the dollars move forward, it is our job to make sure that the opportunities are not squandered, that the goal of going to every single business and every single residence is fulfilled,” she said.
COVID-19 had a bad effect on the way states do business and provide quality education. Capito said the lack of internet access resulted in challenges, especially in West Virginia.
“We saw a lot during the COVID experience that areas that didn’t have broadband fell further and further behind, whether it was in education, the delivery in health care or the ability to work from home,” she said.
The bipartisan infrastructure law includes a $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which Capito sponsored in 2019. Manchin later co-sponsored that same legislation and authored a provision that allocates funding to each state based on its proportion of unserved areas in the updated FCC broadband coverage map, as well as additional funding for high-cost areas like West Virginia that are more difficult to serve.
American Rescue Plan Act funds are also going toward funding 24 broadband projects in 38 West Virginia counties.
To view the updated FCC maps and check your coverage, click HERE.