Internet provider asks feds to suspend West Virginia BTOP grant

The head of Internet provider Citynet is asking the federal government to suspend funding stimulus grant to expand broadband in West Virginia.

Citynet President Jim Martin sent a letter last week to the federal authorities overseeing the $126.4 million stimulus grant. In the letter to Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery and Transparency Board, and National telecommunications and Information Administration head Lawrence Strickling, Martin wrote that little will be done with the federal funds to increase the availability of "adequate and competitively priced high-speed Internet" in West Virginia.