Government Grants

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

In 2021, Shentel commenced negotiations with various governmental entities to receive awards under broadband infrastructure grant programs to strategically expand the Company’s broadband network in order to provide broadband services to unserved residences in the partnering counties in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. Throughout 2021, 2022 and 2023, in partnership with counties in the respective states, Shentel has been awarded grants under the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (“VATI”) and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) in Virginia, the Connect Maryland Network Infrastructure Grant Program (“Connect MD”) in Maryland, and the Major Broadband Projects Strategies (“MBPS”) and Line Extension Advancement and Development (“LEAD”) programs in West Virginia.

The following table summarizes the awards under each program:


(in thousands)	Awards
VATI	$	60,872
RDOF	887
Connect MD	19,609
MBPS	3,560
LEAD	823
Total	$	85,751

To receive such grant distributions, the Company entered into agreements with each partnering county in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. These agreements outline certain build-out milestones. The network is required to meet certain performance conditions to ensure that minimum download and upload speeds are able to be provided to the unserved residences.

As discussed in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, government assistance that is used to fund capital expenditures is recorded as a reduction to property, plant and equipment. Given the primary purpose of the programs listed above is to fund build-out of the Company’s broadband network, amounts recognized under these programs are recorded as a reduction to the related property, plant and equipment and cash receipts are presented as cash flows from investing activities in the Company’s consolidated statements of cash flows. The Company recognizes grant receivables at the time it becomes probable that the Company will be eligible to receive the grant, which is estimated to correspond with the date when specified build-out milestones are achieved. As a result of these programs, the Company received $1.9 million in cash reimbursements during the year ended December 31, 2023 and has recorded approximately $1.9 million in accounts receivable as of December 31, 2023. The Company did not recognize any amounts under these programs during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 or as of December 31, 2022.