Legislature’s Broadband Strategy Delivers Nation-Leading Internet Expansion

Hardy Telecommunications, a nearly 90 year old cooperative based in Moorefield, has played a major role in expanding service in some of the most rugged terrain in West Virginia. Here, their officials receive a USDA award.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — When families in rural West Virginia finally connect to high-speed internet, they can thank legislators who did the hard work in Charleston years before the first fiber line was strung.

New data confirms the Mountain State leads the nation in internet growth, and once-isolated areas are seeing those results firsthand. The numbers don’t lie. Since 2019, fiber and cable access across West Virginia has surged from 200,000 locations to nearly 700,000 — a 245 percent increase. Download speeds have leaped 83 percent. In 2024, West Virginia posted the highest connectivity improvement of any state in America.

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