Summit Focuses on Broadband Growth

"As far as I can tell, we’re the only country on the face of God’s green earth that doesn’t have a broadband strategy,"

Because of the state’s sparse population and rugged terrain, most high-speed Internet providers have not expanded their service to large portions of the state.

In some areas of West Virginia, accessing the Internet is a difficult, if not impossible, task.

Because of the state’s sparse population and rugged terrain, most high-speed Internet providers have not expanded their service to large portions of the state.

Federal, state and local leaders gathered Sept. 18 at The Resort at Glade Springs for the Southern West Virginia Broadband Summit, sponsored by the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation. Although West Virginia lags behind the rest of the nation, the lack of broadband deployment is not confined to the Mountain State, said Michael J. Copps, commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission.

"The problem is that we do not have a strategy to get the broadband job done," he said. "We don’t have a way to bring together the people in this room."

Story by Paul Darst

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