Warner, Kaine announce Va. clears major hurdle to expand broadband

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) have announced a huge step towards the deployment of $1,481,489,527.87 in federal funding to expand access to high-speed internet in Virginia.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved Volume 2 of Virginia’s Initial Proposal under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, an important step that demonstrates Virginia has a strong plan to expand broadband and is on track to receive its funding allocation.

“Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to accessing our historic $1.5 billion award and expanding high-speed internet access to more families and businesses across Virginia,” said Sen. Warner. “Virginia has a strong plan to get us closer to universal coverage, and this funding will help make that plan a reality. I’m proud to have authored and negotiated the law that made this possible, and I’m ready to work to make sure it’s implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible so more Virginians have access to high-speed internet.”

“Broadband is a necessity for Virginians to access telehealth, online education programs, job opportunities, and so much more. Boosting access to broadband is key to building on our economic progress, which is why I’m happy that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has approved the next step in Virginia’s BEAD program plan,” said Sen. Kaine. “I’m glad to have helped pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that made this investment possible.”

Following the approval, Virginia has one year to submit a final proposal that will detail how the Commonwealth will ensure service to all unserved locations. Once the final proposal is approved, funds will be deployed and implementation can begin.

In June 2023, Sens. Warner and Kaine announced the $1.5 billion allocation, which was made possible by the BEAD Program in the bipartisan infrastructure law — landmark legislation authored and negotiated by Sen. Warner and Sen. Kaine. The BEAD Program seeks to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs. Specifically, the funding will be utilized by the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) to get Virginians high-speed internet, defined as 100 Megabits/second (Mbps) for downloads and 20 Mbps for uploads. VATI will first prioritize 134,000 unserved locations (those lacking internet service speeds of 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads) and then 28,000 underserved locations (those lacking 100 Mbps/20 Mbps upload/download speeds).

Also through the bipartisan infrastructure law, Sens. Warner and Kaine secured $65 billion in funding to help deploy broadband and decrease costs associated with connecting to the internet. As part of that funding, Virginia received $5 million to help make a strategic plan to deploy coverage.

Sens. Warner and Kaine have long fought to expand access to broadband in Virginia, including by advocating for the accurate reporting of Virginia’s connectivity status. In 2022, Sen. Warner called on Virginians to contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding internet coverage in their communities. Following the FCC’s reporting deadline, Sen. Warner called attention to a significant number of locations in Virginia that were incorrectly reported on the FCC broadband coverage map.