U.S. Virgin Islands

Personnel and Capacity

The Broadband Office for the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) is located within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Through 2023, OMB worked to increase the capacity of its broadband office. Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (viNGN) will administer the state Digital Equity Planning Grant Program and hired a new Director of Digital Equity and Inclusion.  

Town Hall Meetings

ViNGN kicked off a series of nine Town Hall meetings in Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas. ViNGN designed the Town Hall meetings to educate and encourage public participation to guide the execution of the Digital Equity Program in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Local Coordination Event

The U.S. Virgin Island’s Office of Management and Budget and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) co-hosted a local coordination event in the USVI to facilitate discussions among key stakeholders about how best to achieve digital equity and Internet for All in the USVI. The event set the stage by providing an overview of federal broadband programs and discussed critical issues for the Island such as strategies for broadband connectivity, workforce development, telehealth, cybersecurity, and online protection. Federal agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), attended the event.

Improving Higher Education

In February 2023, NTIA awarded the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) $2.9 million from the Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program. The grant will be used to improve UVI’s broadband and IT infrastructure and implement new, innovative teaching strategies. Project activities include replacing fiber-optic cable for faster data transmission speeds and more robust bandwidth, replacing faulty electronics, commissioning architectural drawings of residential facilities for optimizing placement of Wi-Fi access points, and creating a pilot community cloud. This pilot program will help ensure that students and faculty using the specialized lab environment remain connected for teaching and learning during the intermittent power grid and service provider disruptions common to the USVI territory.