Last week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced that the state had finalized its $1.2 billion plan to bring high-speed broadband to homes and businesses in the state. <\/p>\n
“We are excited about the opportunity to bring broadband to every corner of our state and help every West Virginian reach their full potential,” he said. <\/p>\n
But buried in the fine print, tens of thousands of West Virginians will be left out. <\/p>\n
The plan now leaves out roughly 40,000 households or about 100,000 residents, based on the state’s average household size. These households rely on fixed wireless, a type of internet delivered by signals from cell towers or local antennas. <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, federal officials reclassified<\/a> these homes as already “served” if providers say they could deliver minimum broadband speeds.<\/p>\n That shift slashed the number<\/a> of West Virginia households eligible for the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program by more than a third. Instead of roughly 114,000 unserved households qualifying, the state now counts just 74,000. <\/p>\n For families, the reclassification doesn’t mean better service, only that slower, less reliable connections are being treated as good enough in a state where mountains and hollows already challenge wireless signals.<\/p>\n It removed the previous preference for fiber and adopted a technology-neutral approach, meaning fixed wireless, cable and even satellite providers like Starlink can now compete on equal footing for federal broadband dollars. <\/p>\n Bill Bissett, chairman of the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council, said fiber-based internet is the better long-term solution for broadband in the state because of West Virginia’s topography. <\/p>\n “The good news is that we’re moving forward, though further delays only drive up costs,” he said. <\/p>\n Fixed wireless internet works as radio antenna towers send signals<\/a> through the air rather than through fiber cables or signals from satellites. <\/p>\n Households receive those signals through a small antenna or fixed router, usually mounted near a window or roof. The most common examples are 5G home wi-fi boxes from cellular carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon. <\/p>\n These carriers supply some 240,000 locations with average to fast internet speeds, according to state broadband<\/a> coverage data. <\/p>\n Unlicensed fixed wireless<\/a> works much the same way, except that signals can face interference from other providers or the public, which often slows internet speeds.<\/p>\n Much of the unlicensed fixed wireless coverage in West Virginia comes from a patchwork of small, local fixed wireless providers like Neubeam, UltraWISP and SkyPacket, which serve nearly 6,500 households<\/a> across the state. <\/p>\n However, speeds often top out at 25-50 megabit downloads and 10-25 megabit uploads. Those speeds fall well short of fiber, the industry gold standard<\/a> for internet. <\/p>\n But BEAD was created to connect communities with equal broadband access. And the goal wasn’t just to get more people online, but to ensure they had access to the same blazing-fast speeds available in cities, essential for work, school and healthcare. <\/p>\n West Virginia’s new proposal opens it up to other, less reliable internet technologies. <\/p>\n “There are trees and hills and mountains, and that makes fixed wireless of any type and satellite internet challenging for a lot of locations,” said Annie Stroud, broadband program director at Generation West Virginia.<\/p>\n And major satellite internet provider Starlink will also now receive a portion of funding for broadband deployment, despite failing<\/a> to deliver consistent speeds and losing federal subsidy money in recent years.<\/p>\n In the final proposal, West Virginia plans to give just 1% of its federal broadband dollars to SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, for satellite internet.<\/p>\n The company has pushed back against<\/a> how states have allocated BEAD money, saying states like Virginia and Louisiana violated the new program rules by leaving them and other providers out.<\/p>\n West Virginia’s new broadband proposal would serve fewer homes and spend only about half of the federal dollars<\/a> available, with most funding going to internet providers Citynet, Frontier and Comcast<\/a>. <\/p>\n Drew Galang, spokesperson for the governor’s office, said the remaining funds for the program will be used for things like expanding cell phone coverage in the state. <\/p>\n The state’s previous proposal would’ve also been under budget and supplied 100% of homes with future-proof broadband, said Evan Feinman, who oversaw the BEAD program for the Biden administration.<\/p>\n “It’s like pulling a goal post toward you and claiming a touchdown,” he said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n