Mountain State Times

Washington, DC – On June 16, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $25,054,092 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for Appalachian Power to expand and improve broadband services in southern West Virginia. The funding is made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program that Senator Manchin established and will enable broadband service to approximately 22,000 households in Raleigh, Wyoming, McDowell, Mercer and Summers counties. This builds on $19.7 million in previous funding through NTIA for Appalachian Power to help expand service to more than 12,000 households in Logan and Mingo Counties.

“Access to affordable, reliable broadband is vital to the success and growth of our communities across West Virginia,” Senator Manchin said. “That’s why I helped author the $65 billion broadband provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law including dedicated funding for middle mile projects like this one. This announcement is great news for Raleigh, Wyoming, McDowell, Mercer and Summers counties, and I applaud Appalachian Power for their innovative approach to making necessary improvements to their grid while also bringing broadband connectivity to Southern West Virginia. I have made clear that rural states like West Virginia should receive their fair share of funds as we continue to work on broadband deployment, and I will continue working with federal agencies, state officials and communities to bring broadband coverage to every corner of the Mountain State.”

The Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is a $1 billion program that provides funding for the construction, improvement, or acquisition of middle mile infrastructure. The purpose of the grant program is to expand and extend middle mile infrastructure to reduce the cost of connecting areas that are unserved or underserved to the internet backbone.

In 2020, West Virginia became just the second state to permit utilities to lay additional fiber for broadband purposes while modernizing their existing grids. Building on this effort, Senator Manchin authored a provision in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to incentivize utilities like Appalachian Power to build middle-mile fiber. As utilities already own the rights-of-way and existing infrastructure, Senator Manchin’s middle mile program is an efficient use of taxpayer dollars to make broadband buildout more affordable and effective. On April 26th, 2023, Senator Manchin questioned U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on implementing the Middle Mile program funding to ensure high-speed Internet access in rural West Virginia.

A timeline of Senator Manchin’s efforts to address broadband coverage issues can be found below or here.

Original source can be found here.