Eight counties in rural West Virginia will get connected by 2026 with a $23 million fiber network project. The Jackson Star & Herald reported that construction by CityNet is set to begin in January 2024, with the completed two-year project providing broadband to 8,500 households in Roane, Jackson, Calhoun, Clay, Braxton, Webster, Gilmer and Nicholas counties.
According to West Virginia Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael, “Over 300,000 people in WV are without adequate broadband service and will have the fastest fiber optic service in the world in the next few years.”
Funding for the project comes from a $17 million grant from the West Virginia Department of Economic GigReady Incentive Program and a partnership between The Roane County Economic Development Authority and CityNet, contributing $5.7 million.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito added, “We have $1.2 billion coming on top of the funds already received. We will get to that last house. I commend CityNet for its ingenuity, flexibility, and dedication to the state of West Virginia. This is a wonderful public-private partnership and shows that we can get this done.”
“If we don’t get broadband to every single house and every single business in West Virginia in the next five years, then shame on us,” CityNet President and CEO Jim Martin told the Herald. “We have the funding and the willpower. With fiber, there is no limitation on how fast it can go. This money puts the infrastructure in place, and we’re proud to be part of this.”
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