Lawmakers in West Virginia have taken the teeth out of a bill that originally called for a plans to build a 2,500-mile high-speed broadband network across the state in one shot, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

According to the report, the bill, known as SB 315, was reworked in the face of staunch opposition from Internet and cable companies like Frontier Communications and Suddenlink, who argued the proposed state-funded network would be superfluous to private sector expansion efforts and would duplicate existing networks.

The new version of SB 315, which originally called for $72 million to build the network and bring Internet services to rural communities, now allows for Internet companies to request grant and bond money to build out individual segments.

According to the FCC’s recent Broadband Progress report, 30 percent of the overall population and nearly half of the rural population in West Virginia lack access to high-speed Internet services. The rural total of West Virginians without adequate broadband access is nine percentage points higher than the national average of 39 percent of rural residents who lack access to benchmark broadband speeds of 25 mbps for downloads and 3 mbps for uploads.

Only 10 percent of urban West Virginia residents were without the same.

The FCC said in its report that the gap in access between rural and urban communities represents a “persistent” disparity.

In order to accelerate broadband deployment, the FCC said it will provide direct subsidies and help identify and reduce “potential obstacles to deployment, competition, and adoption.”

Similarly, the Gazette-Mail reported that lawmakers in the state said they are committed to expanding high-speed Internet access, especially in light of an increasing number of complaints from their constituents.

The revised version of SB 315 was passed by the State’s Senate Government Organization Committee at the end of last week and will go before the full Senate this week, the Gazette-Mail said.