Officials assure broadband expansion work is being done — albeit slowly

The Rappahannock County Broadband Authority met for its first meeting of the year last week and updated county residents on the slow-moving progress from All Points Broadband on fiberto-home construction in the region.

County Administrator Garrey Curry said All Points is beginning work on power lines in Augusta County, one of the eight counties in the regional partnership between All Points and the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC).

“The main takeaway as I received it was we're still in the low-level design,” Curry said.

All Points and partners Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) and Dominion Energy will begin installing power poles to accommodate future fiber construction. Curry said make-ready work in the other counties will be announced at a later date, but residents can expect fiber installations to begin in early 2024. The project remains on track to be completed by mid-2025.

“We just need to make sure everybody knows that hopefully in 2024, we will be seeing things happening,” said Wakefield Supervisor and Broadband Authority Chair Debbie Donehey. “There's behind the scenes work going on right now.”

Curry said representatives from All Points will consider applying for additional state funds in 2024 to assist in building fiber in areas that may not be covered in the current project plan. He said that if this occurs, the county would not have to contribute additional local funding.

All Points began constructing power poles in Culpeper last fall with a deadline to finish by November, but have faced delays related to repairing and retrofitting thousands of utility poles around the service area, according to a statement from All Points representatives to the Culpeper Star-Exponent. Culpeper is not a part of the regional agreement with Rappahannock County.

Curry said in his meeting with All Points and NSVRC last week, representatives said those issues have been resolved. Hampton Supervisor Keir Whitson intends to remain in touch with REC members to make sure construction goes more smoothly in Rappahannock. “It seems to me we need to continue reinforcing to REC the urgency of them doing their part here in our county,” Whitson said.

Residents will be notified 90 days before installation is scheduled to begin.