By Staff Reports
As broadband efforts progress at a slower pace than anticipated, and the Broadband Committee is encouraging residents to help make sure the service remains a priority.
“Our county government is working extremely hard on budgets, COVID, other issues,” said Steve Terry, chairman of the Broadband Committee.
Economic Development Director Bryce Simmons “has a lot on his plate in addition to handling broadband initiatives, pretty much on his own. County personnel resources are stretched, and the broadband committee is struggling somewhat to keep broadband high on the agenda for our supervisors and officials.”
Noting the county has “one active, funded project,” Terry said three county areas which should soon have funding through the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Auction, and both congress and the state have announced additional funding for rural broadband assistance.
The county needs to have preliminary project planning completed soon so grant applications deadlines can be met. Additional funds are essential to enable us to eventually bring acceptable broadband to all areas of the county, Terry said.
RiverStreet Networks (RSN) is completing the county-wide broadband engineering plan funded partially by donations from county” residents, Terry said, and added that the project will serve as a guide for additional projects and funding requests.
Simmons is scheduling a presentation of the plan by RSN to the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, the Broadband Committee and others who are interested, Terry said.
The active and pending projects are discussed below.
Phase I Fixed Wireless Project – Funding for the county’s $1.3 million fixed wireless project for Patrick Springs, Woolwine and a section of Meadows of Dan was announced by the Governor on January 22, 2020, Terry said.
“The county struggled for most of the past year to finalize agreements for access to the Bull Mountain Fire Tower and to complete transfer of ownership from the Virginia Department of Forestry to the county.
RiverStreet Networks recently was authorized by the county to proceed with final design and the project is progressing, Terry said, and added the fire tower, no longer used by the Forestry Service, is in an ideal location and will serve a critical role for the county broadband program.
A fiber optic cable will be installed to the tower to serve as the internet backbone. New equipment on the tower will relay data to and from existing cell towers in Patrick Springs and Woolwine. A new monopole is planned near Vesta. Customers in the three areas will be served from the local towers in turn communicating back to the Bull Mountain Tower.
“As the project progresses, you can expect additional information from RSN and the county. The project is expected to complete in 2022,” Terry said.
FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Auction – Under this reverse auction, the FCC will provide almost $10 Billion for rural broadband assistance in the U.S., Terry said
“Internet service providers (ISPs) who bid to serve designated areas won by a combination of quality of service to be provided and the lowest amount of federal funding they would accept to provide this service,” he said, and added that winners were announced on December 7, 2020.
“Information from successful bidders is being evaluated by the FCC prior to finalizing awards and making funds available sometime in upcoming months. The FCC mandated a quiet period during the auction to prevent possible collusion on bidding, and this is still in effect,” Terry said, and added that discussions about the auction cannot be held between the county and winning bidders until this period officially ends.
Three firms — Wilkes (RiverStreet Networks), SpaceX, and CCO Holdings (Charter Communications) — won areas of the county, he added.
One ISP stated it anticipates funding to begin on January 1, 2022, and funding will spread over the full 10 years of the project, Terry said.
Bidders awarded funds must ‘offer’ commercially at least one voice and one broadband service to all locations within the awarded area in the specified timeframes – 40 percent of the of locations won in a state by the end of the third year of support, increasing by 20 percent annually to 100 percent by the end of the sixth year, according to Terry.
“Wilkes Telephone (RiverStreet Networks) won $5.4 million to serve 34,623 locations in Virginia ($4.465 million/4,465 locations in Patrick County). Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) won $62.390 million funding to serve 53,640 locations in VA ($1.008 million/ 9,589 locations in Patrick), and CCO Holdings, LLC (Charter Communications) won $18.317 million funding for 11,369 locations in VA ($1.292 million /487 locations in the county).” he said.
SpaceX is asking those wanting service to go to their website at https://www.starlink.com/ to pay a $99 deposit to get in line for service, expected to be available later this year, Terry said. Customers will pay $578.10 for equipment including taxes and shipping, and either self-install or pay a third party for installation. The monthly service fee is $99.
“At this point, we have not heard anything from Charter concerning their plans for service,” he said.
To confirm which company won your area, access the FCC site’s interactive map at https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/maps/rdof-phase-i-dec-2020/ and enter your address.
A second link https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/0b324cabf7b94d9ca34caa9361122d94/, provides an interactive map with additional information on the auction and a more legible map.
Additional funding opportunities are available, Terry said, and added the state has included $50 million for broadband assistance grants in the 2022 budget, with grant applications due September 14. Funds for broadband were included in the recent COVID-19 relief bill although details are pending; other funding programs are on the horizon.
“Millions of dollars in various funding sources are on the table, and our county urgently needs this assistance if we are to compete and prosper in the future,” he said, and added that Floyd County and Citizens Telephone expects to have optical fiber run to over 95 percent of the homes in their county by the end of this year in a $35 million, six-year effort to “bring internet services exceeding what is available in many major US cities to even their most rural citizens.”
He added that “Patrick County has an opportunity to bring acceptable service, perhaps in some areas approaching what Floyd has achieved, for our citizens over the next several years. This will require continuing to work hard with our partner RSN and others on planning, funding, and implementing multiple projects.
“Managing a complex, multi-million-dollar broadband effort for our county is a daunting task demanding discussion, input, and decisions from county officials at several levels, as well as from taxpayers,” Terry said, and encouraged everyone “who desires better broadband services to frequently remind our board and officials how urgent it is for our county to win our share of available funding and to ensure it is spent wisely.”
Money is available to help us, Terry said, but, he added, that “may not be true after most areas have their needs met. Patrick County must not and need not end up being one of the few places on earth without this essential service.”
