SMITHFIELD, Va. — More than 18 million Americans lack access to high-speed Internet.
Many of them are in rural areas, where homes and businesses are spaced far apart.
For too long, rural communities, including those in Virginia, have been left out when it comes to high-speed Internet, but that is about to change thanks to the Omnibus spending package passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
Virginia was already in line to get $700 million for rural broadband as a result of the American Rescue Plan. The passage of the Omnibus bill adds hundreds of millions of dollars more to that.
Members of the Hampton Roads Congressional delegation shared the news Friday with officials from Isle of Wight, Surry, and Sussex counties as well as Smithfield and Waverly.
"Rural broadband is something that is desperately needed," said Rep Bobby Scott (D-Virginia, 3rd District). " One hundred years ago, we decided that everybody ought to have telephones and electricity. And now, 100 years later, everybody needs broadband."
The additional $800 million in development funds are targeted for Virginia to expand broadband services in rural areas in order to provide economic development opportunities to improve education and health care services.
"I think we all know, after COVID, that broadband is not a 'nice-to-have.' It's an 'absolutely-essential,'" said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia). "And, luckily, from the federal resources coming in, every home in Virginia should have affordable broadband within the next two, two and half years."
Warner continued, "Candidly, the history of government-supported broadband, we've wasted a lot of money. We ended up building networks that people couldn't really know how to operate. So, we've got this money that's already been allocated. On top of that, out of the Infrastructure deal, there's another $65 billion coming, just in broadband."
President Biden has outlined a plan to achieve universal broadband coverage for all Americans by 2030.