Despite a pause in March, progress has restarted with some of the broadband expansion projects on which 10 West Virginia counties had been waiting. Money from the American Rescue Plan Act will go to CityNet, Comcast, Digital Connections Inc., Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Telephone and Micrologic — $34 million for Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Lewis, Jackson, Mason, Putnam, Preston, Pendleton and Grant counties.

A big deal, right? But it is just the start of what was meant to be a much larger effort in West Virginia.

West Virginia was awarded $1.2 billion through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program in June 2023; but the goalposts have moved a bit.

“We have been anticipating the new guidelines from the Trump administration and are ready to move quickly to secure BEAD funding,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a June 13 statement. “These funds are critical to West Virginia and our efforts to provide fast, reliable broadband access across the state.”

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released new guidance for BEAD at the beginning of this month.

“Expanding broadband access is essential to the future of West Virginia, and these projects represent a major step forward in connecting communities across the state,” Morrisey said in touting the rounds of ARPA funding that will bring broadband to 2,897 locations.

Indeed, it is a step worth celebrating. But state officials and our representatives in Washington, D.C., must do all in their power to be ahead of the game and keep up the pressure regarding the BEAD process.

West Virginia cannot afford to lose momentum on broadband expansion.