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West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council receives briefing on federal funding pause

Approves resolution affirming commitment to fiber broadband

(Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

CHARLESTON — The leader of West Virginia’s efforts to expand high-speed fiber broadband to underserved and unserved residents and businesses said the state was prepared to be nimble as the federal government considers changes to how broadband dollars should be spent, but guidance is needed quickly.

The West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council received a briefing Thursday morning from Kelly Workman, director of the Office of Broadband, regarding a pause in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, as well as the 90-day extension to submit the state’s final proposal for the BEAD program administered by the Department of Commerce’s Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The BEAD final proposals were due on April 18. NTIA sent out notifications to states at the end of April granting the 90-day BEAD final proposal submissions.

“We can make changes. We’re pretty nimble. We can pivot as needed. The administrative changes are not a concern for us,” Workman said. “West Virginia has proven the ability to navigate complex program regulations. That is not our concern.”

The NTIA approved West Virginia’s Volume II Initial Proposal for the BEAD program in April 2024, becoming one of the first three states to have their initial proposals approved. West Virginia was awarded $1.2 billion through the BEAD program in June 2023, funding made possible through the passage of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which was signed into law in 2021 by former President Joe Biden.

Since then, West Virginia has been ahead of the curve, becoming one of the first states to complete the BEAD challenge process and secure NTIA approval of its challenge results. West Virginia was one of the first three states to open its BEAD subgrantee selection process last August. Workman said that all along, the state has successfully completed all program requirements.

But the BEAD program was placed on a pause at the beginning of March by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick while the program was being reviewed. In a previous statement, Lutnick accused the BEAD program of favoring some technologies over others, being bogged down by cumbersome regulations and red tape, and being high in cost.

Workman said it was unclear when program revisions could come from the Department of Commerce, which could be sometime near the end of the 90-day extension in June or July. The Office of Broadband would review any program revisions and make needed changes. The office is also developing contingency plans.

The biggest issues with the BEAD pause and 90-day extension revolve around competition with other states for investments, labor, contracting, materials, and supplies; increased costs in construction and materials caused in part by tariffs; limited bid holds; business uncertainty; and time and resources.

“The reason we have always tried to move so fast on these funding opportunities is that we are competing with not only the region, but the entire nation, for investment by Internet service providers,” Workman said. “We are competing directly with Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee regionally, but on a national scale. We wanted to be at the front of the pack to give the companies that are deploying in West Virginia a competitive advantage.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., wrote to Lutnick asking him to expedite the department’s review of the BEAD program. Speaking Thursday afternoon during her weekly briefing from Capitol Hill, Capito said the funding should have already been out the door.

“We were six weeks away from having our application approved so we could begin the work to get these broadband connections to everybody. I’m very frustrated,” Capito said. “West Virginia is ready to go. We’ve been ready to go. We’ve been a leader here. I want to see the money coming to our state.”

There are 11 different funding programs in West Virginia aimed at broadband expansion projects, including through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

According to the Office of Broadband, there were 200,776 broadband serviceable locations with access to either fiber or cable internet in 2019. That has since increased to 684,443 broadband serviceable locations in 2024 – an increase of 240%. Internet speed tests in the state saw a 70% increase over the past two years and a 189% increase over the last four years.

But despite this progress, many parts of the state remain either underserved for broadband access or unserved. Workman, becoming briefly emotional, said the Office of Broadband’s mantra is “leave no one behind.”

“If we had to err, we erred on the side of the West Virginians. We aired on the side of saying, ‘We don’t want your community to be left behind,'” Workman said. “We don’t want your location to be left behind because when we look at all these dots on the map, we have to remember that these are not just buildings; these are people. Each and every dot on the map is personal for us.”

At the end of the meeting, the Broadband Enhancement Council adopted a resolution reaffirming its commitment to the deployment of high-speed fiber broadband once the BEAD program pause is lifted.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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