Governor Patrick Morrisey announced that West Virginia has been granted a 90-day extension to submit its final proposal to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This action comes after the Governor met earlier this week with U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick to discuss the Trump Administration’s plans to make changes to the BEAD program.
The BEAD program is a partnership between the federal government and states that aims to get all Americans on-line by building the infrastructure necessary to increase the adoption of high-speed internet. Toward that end, West Virginia has been working diligently to develop a proposal that meets the State’s specific needs. President Trump and Secretary Lutnick have stated their intention to implement changes to the BEAD program that give states greater flexibility to tailor the investment of BEAD funding to their unique needs, promote more technology-neutral approaches, and eliminate a variety of administrative mandates on states that do not advance the BEAD program’s core goals.
West Virginia will use the additional time that NTIA has granted the state to work closely with federal partners and West Virginia BEAD stakeholders to expeditiously finalize the proposal in a manner consistent with the program changes being proposed by the Trump Administration. Doing so will best position West Virginia to submit a final proposal that successfully addresses the program’s new focus and brings the desired BEAD funding to the state.
This extension will give West Virginia the opportunity to further focus on how BEAD funding can be most efficiently invested and most effectively leveraged to advance the state’s broader economic development goals, including attracting investment from AI hubs, microgrids, and data centers. Getting broadband service across West Virginia is essential to making this happen — allowing the state to evaluate a broader range of technology options, including satellite and mobile wireless technologies, in addition to fiber, will help West Virginia maximize the coverage of high-speed internet.
