Rural Virginia gets $37M to expand access to high-speed internet

The Federal Communications Commission announced $37 million in funding to expand high-speed internet access across rural Virginia, WDNJ7 reports.

“It’s a lot” of money, Melissa Gay, a communications member at electric utility Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, told WDNJ7.

Enough to extend broadband to nearly 14,000 underserved rural Virginian homes and businesses over the next 10 years, according to the FCC.

The cities of Amherst, Appomattox and Nelson are the biggest winners, with each getting over $5 million in support. Statewide, the funds extend to locations in 34 counties.

Providers will begin receiving money to extend fiber optic cables along existing power lines as early as next month.

Today, 4-in-10 households across the Commonwealth currently lack access to high-speed internet.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the new funding will bring many of those homes “to the right side of the digital divide and give them access to the 21st-century opportunities that broadband offers.”