West Virginia just received tremendous news of a grant award that will enable people across our state to literally be connected to the world in ways never before possible. On Feb. 18, I joined U.S. Department of Commerce Sec. Gary Locke, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Reps. Allan Mollohan and Nick J. Rahall and National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Larry Strickling in the announcement that West Virginia will receive more than $126 million in Stimulus broadband development funding.
This is a huge step forward in our longstanding plan to wire West Virginia from border to border, and we are receiving every dollar of grant funding for which we applied. This is a statewide project and our grant reflects a plan many years in the making that will help West Virginia grow and prosper for many years to come.
More than three years ago, I said our goal is to have West Virginia wired for broadband access from border to border, and with this new funding, our dream is well on its way to reality. With this grant and our Broadband Development Council legislation passed in 2008, we are developing a blueprint for the rest of the country.
I consider the progress that is enabled through statewide broadband access as significant as upgrading from the telegraph to the telephone or going from a two-lane road to an Interstate highway system. This technological infrastructure is that important to our state.
It can change our quality of life. This funding will expand West Virginia's existing microwave public safety network and add about 2,400 miles of fiber optic cabling. As a result, every K-12 school in the state will have a high-speed Internet connection. In addition, access to health-care, distance learning opportunities and broadband video applications for emergency first-responders will be greatly expanded.
The project intends to spur affordable broadband service that would affect more than 700,000 households, 110,000 businesses and 1,500 anchor institutions by allowing local Internet service providers to connect to the project's open network.
We're working with leading experts to develop our network, and I can't say enough about the assistance that John Chambers, West Virginia native and CEO of Cisco Systems, and his team have provided to move our broadband expansion forward. I am extremely grateful to Sen. Rockefeller, our entire Congressional delegation, and all the individuals involved in the grant application.
West Virginia's best days are ahead thanks to all of our partners for working diligently on this grant. Our state has been rewarded extremely handsomely for their efforts, and we all should be incredibly excited about the potential this project holds for our future.