WCBC

January 22nd, 2019 by WCBC Radio

On Wednesday the West Virginia Legislature in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate will recognize the importance of broadband advancements, access, and expansions. West Virginia for Broadband Day is slated for January 23rd at the state capitol and will host a variety of display booths for visitors to explore.

Displays will include educational information from West Virginia for Broadband, the West Virginia Broadband Council, and broadband providers. Attendees of the day will learn about current developments surrounding recent industry investments. A 2016 study provided that over the course of 18 months, 134,000 households in West Virginia had new or improved broadband speeds thanks to investments from providers. That number has continued to expand over the last two years. Moreover, recently 16,900 households received entirely new broadband opportunities, while an additional 117,000 households gain improved speeds.

Since the year 2011, access to a wired connection of at least 10 mbps has improved throughout West Virginia from 44.5% to 91.3%. And, the West Virginia Broadband Program has received almost $5 million dollars in federal grant awards for West Virginia's Broadband Initiative, since 2010.

Most notably, projects relating to broadband infrastructure have received almost $130 million dollars – and that only accounts for 3.7% of all federal infrastructure grants to West Virginia.

West Virginia for Broadband encourages all citizens to become more aware of the latest broadband technologies including small cell and 5G advancements and incites legislators to find ways to address connectively challenges in state to inspire businesses and their employees to become more globally connected.

Legislative citations supporting broadband advancements are being presented in both the House and Senate at 10:00AM and 11:00AM respectively.

“Broadband Day at the Capitol is an opportunity for us to be able to talk about the need aspects, why it’s vital and important for the sustainability of West Virginia,” Senator Greg Boso (R-Nicholas) said. “It’s a vital piece of infrastructure that needs to be available to all our communities, large and small, across the state for communication and business needs.”

All are welcome at West Virginia for Broadband Day and representatives will be on hand to answer questions.