Piedmont Broadband says company is growing

The 12-year-old local company has hired workers and added subscribers

While the Rappahannock County Broadband Authority works on ironing out details in a contract for universal broadband, Richard Pate, one of the owners of Piedmont Broadband, a local internet provider, gave a presentation to the body on Monday.

Rappahannock County is currently in the middle of contract negotiations with All Points Broadband and the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) to potentially bring universal fiber infrastructure to the county.

Pate acknowledged that Piedmont Broadband has been “quiet” throughout the county’s process in obtaining state funding for the massive project with Leesburg-based company All Points Broadband, but said Piedmont Broadband has always been a fixed wireless access internet service provider, and the company has been focused on growing.

“We specialize in delivering last mile connectivity solutions to unserved populations in rural environments,” said Pate, adding that Piedmont Broadband is not specialized in installing fiber connections. “… And it takes a lot of companies working together to make the Internet work, and it's really important that we focus on getting that part right because that is what our customers pay us for and what we have promised to do.”

He said in the last year, Piedmont Broadband has doubled its staff in Rappahannock County, now employing six full-time employees. Their subscriber base has increased since July 2021, Pate said, growing from 521 to 622 subscribers as of January 2022.

Piedmont Broadband has also updated equipment to boost network speeds, including upgrading radios, antennas and other electronic infrastructure. Since July 2021, the company has invested $152,000 in network improvements.

As part of a long-term plan for providing different service options to customers, Piedmont Broadband is working to streamline all of their subscribers’ rates and payment cycles so they follow a clear system.

“Piedmont Broadband is a 12-yearold company, and there were various rate times over the years and special connections that were created for specific customers, and so everybody was paying different rates,” Pate said. “They had different bandwidth amounts they were paying for, and then sometimes they were paying on different terms — monthly, quarterly, annually.”

The Rappahannock Broadband Authority initially sent out a request for information in June 2021 inviting local internet service providers to submit proposals for possible broadband solutions to eventually partner with the county in an application for state funding. Piedmont Broadband did not respond to the county’s request, and a representative of the company at the time said during a meeting that they did not have the capacity to help the county pursue funding through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI).

The Pate brothers purchased Piedmont Broadband in July 2021 from former owner Rich Shoemaker, saying at the time that his plan was to build a mission-critical utility providing reliable and scalable service to county residents.

Right now, that plan does not involve fiber connectivity, something that many VATI applicants were proposing. Fiber connectivity generally provides faster, more reliable speeds than wireless internet. If Rappahannock County decides to sign a contract with All Points Broadband and NSVRC, then the county will receive fiber infrastructure that may be used for decades to come.

Shentel, another local internet service provider, recently announced they would be exiting the wireless internet industry and focusing on more lucrative fiber technology.

Jackson Supervisor Ron Frazier has voiced concerns in the past about Piedmont Broadband potentially going out of business as a result of a universal fiber-to-home buildout from All Points Broadband. Other members of the body called it “collateral damage,” but Pate did not share any concerns about the project on Monday.

Piedmont Broadband still has plans for the future, looking to continue to increase bandwidth and service areas and installing fiber at some connection points to boost the overall service, but not to individual residences.