Gov Northam announces plan to achieve universal broadband across Virginia

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) is announcing a $700 million plan to achieve universal broadband accessibility across Virginia by 2024, a historic investment in broadband for a state long beset by a digital divide. Northam and Sen Mark R. Warner (D-VA) will meet in Abingdon with legislative leaders June 16 to unveil their proposal for spending a portion of the state’s $4.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding under the American Rescue Plan. According to Northam, the state has 233,500 homes, businesses and other locations without access to broadband. The $700 million investment would accelerate the Virginia's goal of deploying broadband infrastructure by 2028 to these underserved areas, pushing it to 2024. Most of the connections would be established within the next 18 months. Virginia is on track to be one of the first states in the nation to achieve universal broadband service; in the past three years, the state has connected over 140,000 locations and made $100 million in investments to a public-private partnership with Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, aiming to provide financial assistance to extend broadband service to areas unserved by a provider. Additionally, through a program established in 2019 by Northam and the General Assembly, more than 13,000 homes and businesses were connected to high-speed Internet.