USVI broadband office, utilities and carriers outline deployment, funding and coordination hurdles

Samir Webber, director of the Office of Management and Budget’s broadband office, told the Senate Committee on Housing, Transportation and Telecommunications on May 14 that the territory had secured the full $27,100,000 awarded through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and was taking steps to open subgrantee funding opportunities. "The April 4 release of the NOFOs marked the opening of the application process for eligible subgrantees," Webber said, and he gave the committee dates tied to BEAD milestones: subgrantee selection and certification, a final proposal due July 17, 2025, and a projected start date for BEAD‑funded projects of Oct. 1, 2025, if prerequisites are completed.

VINGN President and CEO Steven Adams described recent upgrades and grant activity at the territory’s government‑owned middle‑mile network. He said VINGN used federal CARES and ARPA funds to expand community Wi‑Fi and had increased backbone throughput — a recent ARPA payment funded expansion that moved core transport from 10 gigabits to 100 gigabits. Adams said VINGN is prioritizing non‑deployment uses of BEAD funding in light of the FCC Connect USVI grant, focusing on digital literacy, workforce development and sign‑up assistance rather than duplicative infrastructure deployment.

Private and commercial carriers said they were continuing large capital programs while pressing for better permitting coordination. Ravendra Meiwalal, general manager for Liberty USVI, said Liberty has built about 10,800 homes‑passed to date and expects additional aerial pole attachment permits; he said Liberty had submitted roughly 34 project applications to WAPA covering about 8,000 home passes. Siobhan James Alexander, chief executive of 1 Communications (formerly Viya), said the company has upgraded speeds and deployed 21 5G sites and that its lowest consumer broadband tier is now 200 Mbps, with gigabit options available across much of the territory.

T‑Mobile’s managing counsel told the panel that T‑Mobile is investing in new sites and resiliency work but that, under the territory’s current BEAD implementation strategy, many wireless deployment activities would not qualify for BEAD funding because the territorial plan prioritizes a "fiber first" approach. T‑Mobile said it remains open to coordination where federal guidance permits mixed technologies.

Utility coordination was a persistent theme. Derek Gabriel, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, said Liberty VI permit applications historically accounted for a large share of excavation requests and that DPW was tightening restoration and warranty conditions — including five‑year warranties on restoration and requirements for full asphalt restoration in many cases — to reduce future roadway liability. Carl Knight, CEO of the Water and Power Authority (WAPA), described the pole‑attachment review and GIS inventory work WAPA is doing to vet proposals and protect pole warranties and storm‑hardening investments.

Rupert Ross, director of the Bureau of Information Technology, reported progress on interoperability, adoption of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and upgrades to Microsoft licensing and endpoint management. Ross said BIT had centralized monitoring through a government network operations and security center and was prioritizing governance, data management, and website modernization under Act 88‑57.

Several witnesses warned of recent federal grant uncertainty. Adams said a $2,100,000 NTIA digital‑equity award to VINGN was terminated May 9 and that VINGN had paused work related to that grant while it monitored litigation and federal guidance. Webber said BEAD planning and NOFOs continued and that the territory was preparing subgrantee applications for workforce and digital‑inclusion projects.

Committee members asked about customer service, pricing differences with other markets, microtrenching depth and road restoration standards, the status of community Wi‑Fi rollouts and the Diaspora Link Act in Congress, a congressional study backed by Congresswoman Plaskett to assess undersea cable links and a tier‑1 data center feasibility study. Several senators urged greater use of the government‑owned middle‑mile network (VINGN) and tighter permitting coordination to avoid repeated trenching and pavement failures.

What’s next: the broadband office and VINGN said they would continue outreach for BEAD subgrantee applications and provide additional data and contracts the Senate requested. Committee members said they will ask the broadband office, utilities and carriers to provide follow‑up materials requested during the hearing.