The county commission advertised Wednesday in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph for an internet service provider to provide high-speed broadband service to interested customers.
The ultimate goal is to expand the opportunities for the county's residents to get broadband, said County Commissioner Greg Puckett.
"We have those investments that make us more marketable to the outside world and more connected to resources we have locally," he said.
The county commission is also working with the state of West Virginia, the Regional I Planning & Development Council and the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council on the project. Region I has helped the county get funding for the project, said Commissioner Bill Archer.
"That's going to get broadband services out to the Cumberland Industrial Park," Archer said. "It's on its way there. They've been making progress ever since we got the first grant."
Puckett said the goal is to help Exit 1 and Exit 14 at Gardner Road off I-77 have the same development that Exit 9 in Princeton, which has several shopping centers and numerous businesses, has seen.
"A lot of additional (broadband) access keeps the clients well informed, and it's a good recruiting tool to bring other businesses into the area," Puckett said, adding that the City of Bluefield has been working to foster economic development off Exit 1. "Building around Exit 1 is essential to growth. Broadband is the highway of the modern world."
© 2022 the Bluefield Daily Telegraph (Bluefield, W.Va.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
