West Virginia Submits Final Proposal For Federal Broadband Funding

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced the state has submitted its Final Proposal for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding.

In a brief video released Thursday, the governor says the investment may be the biggest economic development initiative in West Virginia’s history.

“It has a potential to transform the Mountain State, a major investment in digital infrastructure,” Morrisey said. “And we’ll be able to better connect so many thousands of West Virginians to each other, but it also helps so many West Virginians.”

According to FCC data, West Virginia ranks last in the nation for fixed broadband connectivity.
BEAD funds have been promised for the state since 2023, but have been continually delayed, most recently after the Trump Administration announced a review of the program in March.

Morrisey’s release stated that nearly 74,000 locations in West Virginia are eligible for BEAD funding.

The BEAD provisional awardees are:

• Armstrong – $12,664,104.27 to provide fiber technology to 1,014 locations.
• Citynet – $229,226,686.94 to provide fiber technology to 26,353 locations.
• Comcast – $61,293,220 to provide fiber technology to 5,493 locations.
• Frontier – $209,291,933.38 to provide fiber technology to 24,386 locations.
• GigaBeam – $23,416,440 to provide fiber technology to 3,552 locations.
• Hardy – $7,939,550 to provide fiber technology to 456 locations.
• Micrologic – $52,884,440.28 to provide fiber technology to 5,987 locations.
• Prodigy – $21,576,576 to provide fiber technology to 2,219 locations.
• Space X (Starlink) – $6,162,710.75 to provide low earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology to 4,100 locations.

Final BEAD awards are subject to National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approval – and the NTIA has indicated that it will review Final Proposals within 90 days.