Virginia is facing a broadband crisis. Millions of residents lack access to reliable and affordable internet service, especially in rural areas. This digital divide has severe consequences for education, health care, and the economic development of these communities.
This isn’t a new problem; ensuring widespread access to the internet has been a challenge for a long time now. But the General Assembly has created several grant programs, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, to help bring broadband to these communities.
However, some internet service providers (ISPs) have exploited this program by underbidding projects and are now trying to renege on their agreement and shift the blame to electric cooperatives for their failure to deliver.
The bill these ISPs are championing would subject cooperatives to unnecessary, overly broad federal regulations and require ratepayers to subsidize further the costs already paid for broadband installation.
This bill is bad for Virginia, and here’s why.