Pole Attachment Delays Vexing West Virginia Broadband Projects

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2025 – Aging poles and challenging terrain are making for a time-consuming attachment process in West Virginia, an advocate said Wednesday. The state is considering following the lead of federal regulators to mediate disputes.

“It’s obviously a big issue for managing grant deadlines—and potentially losing access to time-sensitive grant funds—but the biggest piece is increased and unpredictable costs,” said Annie Stroud, broadband program director at Generation West Virginia, a career development nonprofit that does digital equity work in the state. She spoke at a Fiber Broadband Association webinar.

West Virginia is one of the 23 states that regulates pole access deals between utilities and broadband providers, which the Federal Communications Commission handles elsewhere. Stroud said the state is already seeing delayed timelines for projects funded by federal grants, a worrying sign when $1.2 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program money is on the cusp of becoming available.