The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced $25 million in grants to expand high-speed internet to rural corners of the country. This is good news for the 22% of Virginians without access to broadband, and the 13% with no internet access at all.
Currently, Virginia ranks second in the country for reliable high-speed internet, with an average speed of 505 megabits per second, or Mbps. In contrast, West Virginia is closer to the bottom of the list, with an average of 273 Mbps, according to broadbandsearch.net. However, Virginia’s access to high-speed internet remains concentrated in metropolitan areas. For people in the Shenandoah Valley especially, mountainous terrain can make it difficult to run fiber optic cable through the ground.
“The biggest challenge is that 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 going to allow these providers to assist them,” Perry Hickman, state director for Virginia’s USDA Rural Development program, said in a June 21 statement announcing the grants.
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Hanna Mauck works from home in Powhatan, Virginia. The Maucks live without access to broadband internet. Mauck said she uses a hot spot on her phone to access the internet but the connection is not reliable.
The announcement marks the second round of funding for the program, which received 96 applications requesting a total of $44.5 million in its first round. The funding is through the Broadband Technical Assistance Program, which covers training and application development.
Internet service providers and cooperatives in both Virginia and West Virginia need to apply for the federal grant to be considered. Applications must be submitted electronically using grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 20.
USDA also encourages applicants to consider projects that will advance the following priorities:
■ Assisting rural communities recover economically through more and better market opportunities and through improved infrastructure.
■ Ensuring all rural residents have equitable access to USDA Rural Development programs and benefits from Rural Development-funded projects.
■ And reducing climate pollution and increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through economic support to rural communities.
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