West Virginia BEAD Projects Kick Off as Other Broadband Projects Finish
The state is wrapping up projects under the American Rescue Plan Act and working with ISPs to navigate permitting for BEAD.
WASHINGTON, July 13, 2026 – West Virginia internet service providers are working on obtaining permits for projects under the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment program.
Members of West Virginia’s Broadband Enhancement Council received updates on federally funded broadband expansion projects last Thursday.
Director of the West Virginia Office of Broadband Kelly Workman explained that officials are working with ISPs to navigate federal environmental permitting processes to begin BEAD projects in the council meeting.
West Virginia’s Office of Broadband recently finished passing through a review to assess the environmental effects completed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on June 24.
The Office of Broadband is currently working on providing assistance to each ISP, helping them navigate complex federal environmental permitting requirements. Workman said, “We’re trying to provide as much information as possible to get these projects started in the right direction.” Broadband permitting requires ISPs to go through eight agencies.
West Virginia has received $545,6 million in BEAD funding to connect 73,000 locations. The state is anticipating guidance from the NTIA at the end of the summer on how it can use an estimated $20 billion in non-deployment funding.
The state is finishing up projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act. According to The Intelligencer, Thrasher Group project manager Jeffery Hartley said, “we’re really excited to get a lot of this moved to the closeout stage so these ISPs can start focusing on providing service … It seems that everything’s trending in a way where ARPA is going to finish and wrap up very nicely before the peak of BEAD construction will start.” Thrasher Group is an engineering consulting firm that works with the state’s Office of Broadband.
Hartley explained that out of 45 broadband projects funded by the act, two projects are complete and seven are nearing completion within the next 30 days.
The American Rescue Plan Act, passed in 2021 under the Biden Administration, carved out the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and Capital Projects Fund to help states build broadband networks and lay fiber-optic cables.
