CHARLESTON, W.Va. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) today announced that West Virginia would receive $1,210,800,969.85 in funding through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program to deploy high-speed internet networks.
A member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Appropriations committees and ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Capito said she believes the largely rural Mountain State is primed for a significant economic boost supported by broadband availability.
“Connecting West Virginia has been a top priority of mine since day one in the U.S. Senate, and today’s announcement has the ability to lead us to a major breakthrough in that effort,” Capito said.
“I have consistently worked with those involved in this process at both the state and federal levels to ensure our maps are as accurate as possible and West Virginia receives its fair share of funding.
"This funding, the largest amount of broadband funding awarded to the state to date, will assist in our efforts to provide communities with the resources they need to improve connectivity overall. We are on the cusp of a major breakthrough — one that I am committed to seeing through.”
The program and its funding were made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Capito has advocated for creating the broadband program in the act and ensuring accurate mapping data. She has raised concerns with the Federal Communications Commission about past inaccuracies in their broadband maps, given that broadband funding is directly tied to the maps.
When the first version of the commission’s national broadband map came out in November 2022, she determined that West Virginia’s "underserved and unserved data was far off."
West Virginia worked to improve the data for the updated map in May 2023. More than 86,000 challenges were accepted, and West Virginia was among the top 10 most improved states.
The updated map found that more than 271,000 serviceable locations in West Virginia do not have broadband access.
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