MORGANTOWN – Sen. Joe Manchin celebrated some good broadband news during a conversation with West Virginia reporters on Tuesday.
He said the FCC broadband map updated on Tuesday added 86,000 more unserved locations, putting the total to more than 271,000 unserved locations in the state.
“I think we’re going to do very, very well when this funding” from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act comes through. It will be $65 billion across the nation. ”There shouldn’t be a person living anywhere in West Virginia that won’t be able to access coverage, that’s how big this is.”
Manchin reminded the reporters he’s been pushing to correct the FCC maps since 2015.
He expects the funding to be released in just a few weeks. On the new maps, West Virginia is among the top 10 states to gain unserved locations.
The IIJA allocates funds to each state based on their proportion of unserved areas, requiring that funding be based on updated maps, and establishing a challenge process to give states, communities and individuals a voice in the process.
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