High-speed internet for unserved parts of Warren County lies at least three years away.

An initiative underway to extend fiber-optic cable throughout the county should pick up speed next spring, Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission Executive Director Brandon Davis told the Warren County Board of Supervisors at a meeting this week. Davis and All Points Broadband Director of Government Affairs Kyle Rosner updated supervisors on the project.

Chairwoman Cheryl D. Cullers, Vice Chairwoman Delores R. Oates and supervisors Jerome K. “Jay” Butler, Vicky L. Cook and Walter J. “Walt” Mabe attended the meeting. Cullers, who represents the South River Magisterial District, said constituents continue to ask her when the project would start.

The NSVRC 2022 Accelerated Fiber Deployment Initiative aims to make high-speed internet available to unserved areas in the commission’s service area and to several localities outside its region. Specifically, the project serves the counties of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and Warren. Shenandoah County, also served by the regional commission, opted to work with local internet provider Shentel to expand service rather than participate in the regional initiative with All Points.

All Points identified 2,100 sites in Warren County as not being served by high-speed internet. Cook asked if she could see how many of those unserved sites lie in her Fork District. County Administrator Edwin Daley referred Cook to a map pinpointing each unserved location. Most of the unserved locations lie in the southern end of the county, Daley noted. Oates’ North River District includes a few. Happy Creek and Shenandoah districts represented by Butler and Mabe, respectively, also include some locations.

The project is the largest broadband initiative in Virginia history, Davis said.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development awarded a $97 million grant for the project covering the eight counties. The total investment of approximately $300 million is expected to provide high-speed internet to more than 41,000 unserved residences and commercial properties. The project is expected to lay 3,700 miles of fiber-optic cable over the next three years.

All Points Broadband is the internet service provider working with state and local agencies on the project as well as electric utility companies. The private sector investment totals $140 million, Davis said.

Construction of the fiber lines is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2023 and continue through July 2025. The current phase covers design and engineering. 

“All Points and our utility providers are taking on the risk up front of doing the work,” Davis said.

The commission will seek reimbursement through the grant from the state as crews complete sections of the project, Davis said.

Warren County joined the regional initiative in September 2021. The state announced the provisional grant award in December. The state issued the final Virginia Telecommunication Initiative grant award in August from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and the 36-month project commenced.

“So the shot clock is on now and the project is going,” Rosner said.

All Points plans to build 214 miles of fiber optic cable in Warren County to make broadband internet available to 2,110 unserved locations. The project also requires the installation of approximately 60 miles of “middle mile” cable that connects the service lines to the internet. Utility poles must be made ready for fiber-optic cable attachment. All Points plans to make thousands of pole-attachment requests to Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Rosner said. All Points expects to start customer installations in fiber distribution areas in the fourth quarter of 2023 and continue that process through the third quarter of 2025.

All Points will notify customers 90 days in advance of when service is provided in each area. A sales team will hang flyers on doors and post yard signs to notify potential customers of the service.

No state or local money is released to All Points until work is complete.

All Points plans to offer a $30 per month discount to any household that qualifies for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program. Qualifiers include: a household of five earning an income of less than $65,000; households that receive free or reduced-price school lunch, Medicaid or benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

All Points plans to offer download/upload speeds ranging from 50 megabytes per second to 1,000 megabytes per second, depending on the service, at prices of $60-$110 per month not including discounts. The base service price will remain at $60 per month, Davis said. Standard installation will cost $200.

Potential customers can pre-register for service and receive updates at fiber.allpointsbroadband.com. All Points plans to hire people over the next three years to complete the project.

In response to a question from Oates, Rosner said that All Points should have no problem recruiting employees and contractors to complete the project despite a national labor shortage.

All Points has a communications plan with the regional commission to present information and updates to the public at least twice a year. All Points and the commission also plan to hold public events as construction moves forward.

“So the challenge is going to be probably not getting the word out buy managing expectations, the other side, because everybody needs it now and we wished we’d had it yesterday," Davis said.

– Contact Alex Bridges at abridges@nvdaily.com

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