WEST VIRGINIA — The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us just how important broadband connectivity is for our daily lives and many residents in West Virginia live without adequate broadband connections or even no connection at all. Senator Shelley Moore Capito has announced a new broadband initiative to bridge the gap in the Mountain State.
This is one of many broadband initiatives in West Virginia at both the state and federal levels. However, Senator Capito’s most recent program is asking Mountain State residents to directly weigh in on where the connections need to start.
The initiative, named “Capito Connect,” invites West Virginians to voice their concerns to help pinpoint exactly where the state is lacking connectivity.
“Capito Connect” works hand in hand with the bipartisan infrastructure package and the data collected from the responses to the program will be presented to Gina Raimondo, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
$600 million dollars has been allocated to the Mountain State for just broadband alone and Sen. Capito says the state can start seeing money being put towards improvements as early as this spring.
“We have to get the mapping right. We have to know where the service is and where it isn’t, so that will take probably until May — and then in May, there will be a $5 million grant available for the state to apply for,” Sen. Capito explained.
Sen. Capito also explained that each state will get a minimum of $100 million dollars but then there will be a formula used that will allocate the money according to the under-served areas.
To share your input to “Capito Connect,” visit the official website.