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West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council receives report on updated federal broadband grant requirements

(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

CHARLESTON — West Virginia was on the cusp of being one of the first states to begin work on broadband expansion, but updated federal requirements from the Trump administration could make the state have to re-do much of the work already done and give more consideration of satellite internet options.

The West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council received a report during its regular meeting Thursday on updated guidance from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The stated goal of the updated guidance is to modify the BEAD program’s implementation, aiming to accelerate broadband deployment and ensure greater value for taxpayer investment by eliminating perceived “non-statutory burdens and red tape” imposed by the prior administration of former President Joe Biden.

The BEAD Program, established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), allocates more than $42 billion to expand high-speed broadband access across the United States. The NTIA, as the administering agency, states that the previous administration’s policies “failed to put a single shovel in the ground since IIJA’s passage in 2021–leaving many Americans unconnected.”

Key changes from prior guidance include removing specific mandates related to labor practices, climate change, open access, and affordability plans. The updated program also now emphasizes a technology-neutral approach to funding, allowing various broadband technologies to compete on an equal footing for subgrants, and introduces a “Benefit of the Bargain Round” to ensure competitive selection and optimal use of taxpayer funds.

The notice also details updates to eligible locations, non-deployment funding, permitting processes, and the modification procedures for proposals to align with these new directives, including specific guidelines for unlicensed fixed wireless and low Earth orbit (LEO) capacity subgrants.

Chris Campbell with Tilson Technology Management updated the council Wednesday on key changes, requirements, and deadlines.

Changes include a mandatory correction to initial state proposals within 30 days; a re-evaluation of target locations, primarily involving the removal of already served areas or those served by compliant unlicensed fixed wireless; and a new deadline for final proposals within 90 days.

“That 90-day time period does not leave a tremendous amount of time to wait on this,” Campbell said. “So, there’s work that’s going on right now.”

The policy also rescinds prior sub-award selections and non-deployment activity approvals. The updated criteria for prioritizing broadband projects also shifted from exclusively fiber to any technology meeting specific performance benchmarks, with a heavier emphasis on lowest cost in the revised scoring matrix for subgrantee selection.

“As long as they meet the speed, latency, and scaling standards of the program, any technology – including alternative technologies – can now be a priority broadband project,” Campbell said.

This includes internet service providers using low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. The only provider of such services in West Virginia currently is Starlink, owned by former Trump advisor Elon Musk, who briefly led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“The policy notice identifies the framework that states would use would be subgrants that require LEO providers to reserve sufficient capacity on their constellation to service an area,” Campbell said.

“It’s apparent that this change is reducing the amount of fiber that’s going to be distributed throughout the State of West Virginia,” said council Vice Chairman Jeffrey Proctor.

“If an LEO applicant applies for an area…but cannot provide or a homeowner cannot access those due to tree cover, you can’t just go ask your neighbor to cut a tree down so you can get access to a satellite,” Proctor continued. “There are certain areas where the hillsides are not going to permit it, but now there’s no access of fiber in that area. How do we serve those folks?”

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

“I don’t think it’ll surprise anybody to know that I was very disappointed that the President put a halt on the BEAD program when West Virginia was right on the cusp of getting their program approved and the money sent,” said U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., during a call with reporters Thursday afternoon. “Now, we are like eight weeks from that decision.”

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 Biden. The BEAD final proposals were due on April 18.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced in March that West Virginia was granted a 90-day extension to submit the state’s final BEAD grant proposal. Morrisey said the request for an extension came following conversations between himself and Lutnick about changes being considered for the BEAD program.

“From the beginning, we have approached the BEAD program with care and accountability,” Morrisey said last week in a press release applauding the new guidance. “We resisted pressure to rush an application through a process weighed down by overly-rigid mandates. That prudence has paid off.

“We know that the terrain and realities of West Virginia demand flexibility – not a one-size-fits-all directive from Biden-era Washington,” Morrisey continued. ‘”I want to thank Commerce Secretary Lutnick for his attention to both the taxpayer and the need for action relative to the BEAD legislation.”

Capito said Thursday that she believes that the state will not have to make very many changes to its existing plans, which focus primarily on fiber broadband.

“My understanding is from our West Virginia leadership at the Broadband Council that our plan meshes fairly well with what the new guidance is,” Capito said. ” I think certain points will have to be sent back out to be re-bid to see if some of the satellite companies want to bid in that area. I mean, I’m fine with that.”

Capito also praised removal of some of the hurdles put in place by the Biden administration that delayed implementation of the BEAD program.

“In my opinion, speed is of the essence here,” Capito said. “We’re now almost in four years since we passed (IIJA) and now they’re saying the money is not going to go out until the end of the year. I guess my frustration is I’ve been telling people for the last three and a half years we’re going to connect every house and every business and yet we still don’t have the funds to be able to do that…the Trump administration did claw out a lot of the Biden requirements that were really slowing everything down, so hopefully that will expedite the deployment of the funds.”

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

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