The Broadband Equity Access and Development Program (BEAD) announced $1.2 billion towards broadband expansion in West Virginia in June 2023, with final federal approval in April 2024. However, in remarks at the West Virginia Broadband Summit on Tuesday, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, said a slow federal timeline has meant none of that amount has been distributed.
“We’re really pleased with our local providers, with the input that we have every day trying to make ways to make this thing flow,” Capito said. “But the fact of the matter is, we still haven’t connected one person yet.
West Virginia is one of the first states to open BEAD’s subgrantee process. The full application period for organizations seeking grant funding to expand broadband access in qualifying areas ends Thursday, and the state plans to add an extension period.
In the meantime, other pandemic-era broadband funds have dried up. The FCC Affordable Connectivity program ended for West Virginians in April due to a lack of continued federal funding.
As of April, the FCC ranked West Virginia’s broadband coverage as 49th in the nation.
This year, Capito also reintroduced the bipartisan Rural Broadband Protection Act with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn; the U.S. Senate passed it this September. The bill outlines steps geared to transparency and accountability steps.
Capito noted launching “Capito Connects,” announced in 2015, as long-term advocacy for rural broadband. That original announcement lists connectivity benefitting “telehealth, education, and economic development,” points she noted on Tuesday as well.
“I already voiced my three year frustration, but we are going to get this done,” Capito said. “The recognition of the urgency of this problem and the depth of this problem was something that I felt when I began my first statewide campaign.”