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West Virginia State Broadband Office

West Virginia State Broadband Office Overview

West Virginia Broadband Grant Award Status

BEAD: $1.21 B

West Virginia 5 Year Plan
Initial Proposal v1
Challenge Window
4
Initial Proposal v2
5
Application Window
6
Awards Announced

Treasury Capital Projects Fund: $136.3 M

Treasury Approved
Application Window
3
Awards Announced

West Virginia Broadband Director

Kelly Workman

Broadband Director

About Department of Commerce

In October 2021, Governor Jim Justice announced “a billion-dollar strategy to bring broadband availability to 200,000 more West Virginia homes and businesses [which] will add a $236 million state broadband program to $362 million in Federal Communications Commission funding and $120 million from other state and federal sources”.

Also in October, the West Virginia Development Office (WVDO), Office of Broadband and the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council unveiled its GigReady Incentive Program and Line Extension Advancement and Development (LEAD) Program Target Area Maps. The program aim to create broadband targeting maps.

West Virginia's GigReady Incentive program comes from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. This document outlines the high level parameters of the program.

Applications from counties and municipalities to participate in the program will be accepted starting October 28, 2021 through January 31, 2022. Applications must be submitted to the Department by January 31, 2022, at 3:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.

Note that in addition to the $40 million available through this program, local governments also have access to $500 million from the ARPA Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, and many of them intend to use that money to build or expand broadband networks.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association notes that West Virginia is also in the process of implementing a broadband grant program directed towards Wireless Internet Networks (WIN.) The state intends to use $10 million in state general revenue funds to do this.

The main piece of legislation establishing West Virginia's broadband incentive programs is HB 3302.

West Virginia's broadband investment page offers useful links to program procedures, online grant applications, ZoomGrants tutorials and Webinar presentations for its various programs. _Other Broadband programs: _ WV KidsConnect Initiative: WV KidsConnect is designed to support the learning needs of children who do not have access to the Internet at their home. By installing necessary equipment, all public schools, higher education institutions, county libraries and state parks will be turned into WiFi hotspots. The WiFi hotspot location map can be found here.

Middle Mile Broadband Expansion Program: The Program enables participating electric utilities to recover the net costs of any middle-mile fiber project, pursuant to HB 4619 of 2020. 

State Broadband Plan: The West Virginia State Broadband Plan 2020-2025 outlines specific goals and strategies related to the expansion of broadband in West Virginia.

West Virginia Broadband Articles

West Virginia Broadband Investment Maps

West Virginia broadband investment map ready strength rank

West Virginia Map of Ready Strength Rank

West Virginia broadband investment map yield on cost

West Virginia Yield on Cost Maps

West Virginia broadband investment pricing and competition map

West Virginia Pricing & Competition Map

West Virginia broadband investment map business establishments

West Virginia Map of Business Establishments in Underserved Areas

West Virginia broadband investment map small business establishments

West Virginia Small Business Establishments Map

West Virginia broadband investment map REC coverage

West Virginia Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) Coverage Map

West Virginia broadband investment map anchor institutions

West Virginia Map of Anchor Institutions

West Virginia broadband investment map provider coverage

West Virginia Provider Coverage Maps

West Virginia broadband investment map BSLs

Map of West Virginia Broadband Serviceable Locations