photo by: Niamh Coomey

Members of the West Virginia Broadband Working Group discuss the hurdles of adding new infrastructure.

WHEELING — The West Virginia Broadband Working Group, a collective of industry experts and local government officials, met Tuesday afternoon to continue discussion on the challenges of expanding broadband access across the state.

West Virginia has a critical need for increased internet connectivity, particularly in rural areas, and the federal government has provided an unprecedented financial opportunity to undertake this expansion. However, developing new broadband infrastructure has quickly proven to be no simple undertaking.

The most pressing challenge is ironing out regulatory issues that crop up between the energy companies that own utility poles and the broadband companies that will utilize them to expand their infrastructure.

The Public Service Commission is working on reforming the process for mediating disputes and for coordinating the use of contractors between companies.

This will expedite the approval and completion of broadband expansion projects, said Mark Polen, the executive director of the West Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association.

“It is a very complex system that needs to be reformed on the fly,” Polen said.

Federal time constraints on funding create a pressure to get to work more quickly than changes via legislation or litigation will allow. The state is set to make decisions on project proposals in April.

PSC members are drafting a report with these suggested changes. This plan is expected to be sent out by the end of the week. If government funds are not utilized in a timely and effective manner, they can be taken away, Polen warned the group.

“If we have to go through a formal complaint process or get legislation passed, we might as well just send the money back to Washington,” he said.

The sheer volume of requests for broadband expansion projects on “antiquated” poles contributes greatly to the challenge.

Many city poles are not prepared to handle the weight of new equipment or the volume of current internet needs, Polen explained. Some haven’t been touched in 50 years and may need to be replaced entirely.

This mass amount of requests already placed has strained the system, which is not designed for such rapid expansion.

The state currently ranks one of the lowest in the nation for broadband access, said Alex Weld, director of nonprofit Generation West Virginia, which helps expand broadband access for vulnerable populations and provides digital competency resources.

Weld said West Virginia faces unique challenges largely because of its topography: mountainous and rugged rural terrain makes access more difficult. Digital culture is also not as ingrained in West Virginia, still a largely blue-collar state, in comparison to other areas.

The working group will meet again on Dec. 11.