Plan to bring high-speed internet to all Virginia households approved

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia is officially on the path to bringing high-speed internet to all of its households.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that Virginia's Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Final Proposal received final approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA).

In 2022, over 430,000 Virginia homes did not have access to broadband infrastructure -- meaning they could not access high-speed internet services. After a large push to fund broadband expansion with federal and state resources, that number has been reduced to about 133,472.

BEAD's approval is the green light for a total of $545 million in BEAD awards to be issued to 23 internet service providers. Alongside an additional nearly $430 million in private funding, those service providers will be able to expand broadband infrastructure throughout Virginia -- allowing these remaining homes to get connected within the next four years.

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Documents provided by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) -- which both developed and will administer BEAD -- detail the reccomended award amounts for all Virginia localities. This included the following significant investments in Central Virginia:

• Hanover County: $25.6 million in BEAD awards
• Charles City County: $16.78 million in BEAD awards
• Middlesex County: $12.4 million in BEAD awards
• Mecklenburg County: $8.4 million in BEAD awards
• Caroline County: $7.66 million in BEAD awards
• King William County: $7.27 million in BEAD awards
• Richmond County: $5.84 million in BEAD awards
• Lancaster County: $5.67 million in BEAD awards
• Prince George County: $4.87 million in BEAD awards
• Northumberland County: $4.65 million in BEAD awards
• Chesterfield County: $4.28 million in BEAD awards
• Henrico County: $4.02 million in BEAD awards
• Powhatan County: $2.87 million in BEAD awards
• Orange County: $2.1 million in BEAD awards
• Dinwiddie County: $1.65 million in BEAD awards
• Essex County: $1.17 million in BEAD awards
• Brunswick County: $1.1 million in BEAD awards

DHCD was able to make this broadband expansion a reality while saving taxpayers more than $250 million, per the governor's office. It did so by using a specialized grant application process.

"Since the very beginning of our administration, connecting every Virginia home and business to reliable, high-speed internet has been a top priority,” Youngkin said in the release. “This approval clears the way for us to keep this promise, with a funded broadband project for every unserved home and business in the Commonwealth. Virginia continues to be a national leader in broadband expansion and will be one of the first states in the nation to reach universal broadband access."

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For more information on BEAD, click here.