U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) unveiled a step towards the deployment of the nearly $1.5 billion in federal funding to expand access to high-speed internet in Virginia. The NTIA approved Volume 2 of Virginia’s initial proposal under the BEAD Program, a step they say demonstrates Virginia has a strong plan to expand broadband and is on track to receive its funding allocation.
“Broadband is a necessity for Virginians to access telehealth, online education and so much more, which is why I’m happy that the NTIA has approved the next step in Virginia’s BEAD program plan,” said Kaine. “I’m glad to have helped pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Law that made this investment possible.”
Virginia now has one year to submit a final proposal that will detail how it will ensure service to all unserved locations. Once NTIA approves the final proposal, funds will be deployed and implementation can begin.
The BEAD Program seeks to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs. Specifically, the funding will be used by the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) to get Virginians high-speed internet, defined as 100/20 Mbps. VATI will prioritize 134,000 unserved locations (those lacking internet service speeds of 25/3 Mbps and then 28,000 underserved locations (those lacking 100 Mbps/20 Mbps speeds).
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