Virginia will use $700 million in funding to expedite broadband buildouts in underserved communities all through the state, Governor Ralph Northam announced on Friday. With the funding, Virginia says it’s on monitor to develop into one of many first states within the US to realize common broadband entry.
An estimated 233,500 properties and companies all through the Commonwealth fall beneath what the Federal Communications Commission would contemplate an location. They don’t have an web connection that may obtain obtain speeds of 25Mbps down. The state estimates the extra funding will permit it to attach these locations to quicker web by the tip of 2024, as a substitute of 2028, as beforehand deliberate. What’s extra, the “majority” of these connections shall be accomplished throughout the subsequent 18 months.
“It’s time to close the digital divide in our Commonwealth and treat internet service like the 21st-century necessity that it is — not just a luxury for some, but an essential utility for all,” Governor Northam mentioned.
Across 9 provisions, President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan gives roughly $388 billion in funding for state and native governments to handle the digital divide of their communities. Virginia is barely one of many states throughout the nation that plans to make use of that cash to construct quicker web infrastructure. In May, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed a .
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