Grayson County, Virginia

1 day ago

GRAYSON COUNTY AWARDED $1.8 MILLION GRANT FOR BROADBAND PROJECT

Grayson County has been awarded a grant totaling $1,838,255 to provide last-mile broadband services to unserved areas in the County. The grant is through the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) which provides targeted funding to extend service to areas that are presently unserved by any broadband provider. The VATI program is a state-funded program administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Funding provided by the VATI grant will be used in the Elk Creek area of Grayson County which includes 2,648 residences and 451 businesses.

The broadband project named “Connect Grayson” is focused on providing broadband services in areas of the County that either have no service or have inadequate service as defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC broadband definition is a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, which is also what Grayson County wants to be available to their citizens. In 2019, Grayson County was awarded grant funding from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission (TRRC) which will be used to provide broadband capabilities in the Whitetop area of the County. Other grant funding from the TRRC in 2018 will be used in the central part of the County.

In May of 2019, Appalachian Power announced their partnership with Grayson County and GigaBeam Networks to build infrastructure that would allow fiber to be installed throughout the County to provide middle mile connectivity for broadband services. On July 1, 2019, Governor Ralph Northam signed into law the bill introduced by Delegate Israel O’Quinn that would allow Grayson County, GigaBeam Networks, and Appalachian Power to provide faster broadband connections in the County. Appalachian Power has submitted the project to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for final approval. The SCC will conclude their hearing regarding the broadband project on Friday, January 24, 2020. Appalachian Power’s fiber project is contingent upon the successful outcome of Friday’s hearing. Should the outcome of SCC approval be unsuccessful, Grayson County will be in jeopardy of losing this project and any reconfiguration could result in less customers served in a much longer timeframe.

The Grayson County Broadband Committee was formed in early 2018 to address the need for broadband connectivity in the County. ... See MoreSee Less