HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a $25 million grant to expand high-speed internet to rural areas across the country. The funding is through the Broadband Technical Assistance Program.
Currently, Virginia ranks 5th in the country for reliable high-speed internet, with an average speed of 505 Mbps (Mega Bites Per Second). West Virginia is toward the bottom of the ranking, with an average of 273 Mbps, according to broadbandsearch.net.
However, those speeds are more accessible in metropolitan areas. For people in the Valley, mountainous terrain can make it hard to run fiber optic cable through the ground. Those cables can’t always be strung from telephone polls, due to the fiber’s sensitive material.
Without fast internet, some households are stuck with expensive bills or no service at all. This could mean more than just missing out on the latest TV show or a recent Facebook post; it can deprive people of meeting banking, healthcare and educational needs in an increasingly digital world.
“The biggest challenge- a lot of these smaller, rural communities do not have access to resources that will allow them to participate. With this funding opportunity, it’s gonna allow these providers to assist them,” Perry Hickman, state director for the Rural Development of Virginia said.
Internet service providers and cooperatives in both Virginia and West Virginia need to apply for the federal grant to be considered. The deadline to apply is August 20. For more information on the grant and to find the application, you can click here.
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