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GOAL WAS TO BRING BROADBAND TO WV'S RURAL AREAS
Out Of Money, W.Va. Broadband Council Ends 5-Year Run
By Eric Eyre for the Charleston Gazette
After a five-year run, the West Virginia Broadband Deployment Council likely held its last meeting Wednesday, releasing a financial statement that showed a wireless Internet provider in Wheeling and an out-of-state consultant received the bulk of the council's grants.
StratusWave, which serves businesses and residential customers in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, picked up $2.2 million in grants, or 44 percent of the $5 million the council has distributed over the years. StratusWave received nine of the 11 grants funded by the council. The grant money is being used to expand high-speed Internet in West Virginia.
"I'm very proud of the work the broadband council has done in funding innovative broadband solutions from small West Virginia technology companies like StratusWave," said council Chairman Dan O'Hanlon. "They have provided wireless broadband throughout the Northern Panhandle with grants from the council."
The council also previously awarded $713,000 to Bridgeport-based Citynet, which plans to expand Internet service at Snowshoe Mountain resort, and $57,528 to 3WLogic, a wireless Internet provider headquartered in Buckhannon.
The broadband council paid nearly $2 million, or 40 percent of its total funds, to a Pennslvania-based consultant, L.R. Kimball. The firm managed the council's grant program ...
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Out Of Money, W.Va. Broadband Council Ends 5-Year Run
By Eric Eyre for the Charleston Gazette | 
