BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va, – A big development for broadband expansion was announced Monday.
Governor Ralph Northam says over $722 million worth of grants will be given to areas in Virginia to work towards universal coverage.
“Broadband was important for everybody no matter who you are or no matter where you are in Virginia. it has become a necessity. we saw that during COVID,” said Northam.
Here locally, some of the biggest grants were awarded to the New River Valley Regional Commission with over $68 million and Southside Planning District received over $69 million.
$3,084,796 worth of grants will be spent in Botetourt County. County Administrator, Gary Larrowe said the timing couldn’t be better.
“If there is anything positive that comes out of this it may end up being that we have broadband throughout the region,” said Larrowe. “We should end up having universal broadband service by December 2023,” he said.
Leaders say the pandemic showed the gaps in connectivity during months of working from home, virtual learning and telemedicine visits.
“I think the timing of this is to set up the community to be successful into the future,” said Larrowe.
With the help of these grants, Virginia is on track for 90% of the state to have access to high-speed internet by 2022.