By Matt de Simone
Last week at the monthly Board of Supervisors meeting, Board Chairman Dr. Mac Scothorn announced that Botetourt continues to expand its broadband reach across the county. Members of Botetourt’s Broadband Committee and Senior Vice President and General Manager of LUMOS Diego Sanchez added their thoughts and appreciation for the group effort it took to bring universal broadband to Botetourt County.
Universal broadband coverage means that all residents and businesses have access to reliable internet service with speeds that meet or exceed the federal definition of 25/3 service.
In a statement released last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors announced that Botetourt County and LUMOS are continuing their partnership to bring universal broadband coverage to homes and businesses by applying for a Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This particular proposal seeks to deliver Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband connectivity to 1,901 addresses in Botetourt County. LUMOS is also planning additional expansion projects targeting universal fiber coverage in the area.
This VATI proposal follows two previous successful projects and a Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) funded CARES expansion project in Botetourt County serving a total of approximately 1,500 addresses and culminates the county’s work to deliver broadband connectivity to every residence and business.
The initiative began in 2016 after a broadband demand study was completed, and the Botetourt Broadband Commission formed.
“High speed, dependable internet service has never been more important than it is right now,” Scothorn stated in the release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made our homes into classrooms, worksites and medical offices. It is imperative that our residents and businesses in Botetourt County have access to universal broadband coverage. The Board of Supervisors is also grateful to the Botetourt Broadband Commission who spearheaded this initiative in our county, and we are now starting to see the plans set in motion coming to fruition.”
“We are very excited to continue our partnership with Botetourt County,” Anderson said in the release. “Consumers in Botetourt need access to high-speed fiber broadband for working from home, virtual learning and other bandwidth-intensive online applications, such as video streaming, gaming, and telehealth care.
“We’ve been serving this community for many years, and this new expansion project will allow us to reach every resident with scalable fiber internet and high-quality customer care.”
The estimated project cost for the VATI application will be approximately $7.9 million. Grant funding is being sought to total $3,084,796 through the Commonwealth VATI funds. Botetourt County and Lumos are proposing to match the funding request with approximately $4,824,937, of which $2,602,514 will be from Botetourt County recovery act funds.
“We applaud Botetourt County for its efforts to secure additional grant funding to support rural broadband accessibility for its residents,” said Frank Smith, President and CEO, Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority (RVBA). “Working collaboratively with Lumos and the RVBA is one of the best ways to achieve its goal of total broadband connectivity and set the county up for long-term success.”
Grant awards should be announced sometime in December. Botetourt is exceptionally positioned for the award to bring fiber to citizens. If this project is funded, Botetourt County will have completed this effort with $200,000 in local funding (remaining funds have been federal recovery funds) for less than $20 per household for the approximate 10,000 homes in the service area. BARC and Dominion are still working on delivering FTTH in Arcadia and Comcast has high-speed service in Blue Ridge.
During the announcement at the Board of Supervisors meeting, Scothorn asked Walter Grigg of the Botetourt County Broadband Commission to speak about the process of bringing universal broadband to Botetourt County.
Grigg mentioned challenges the county faced in the complex process of bringing fiber to the county.
“I got to see an unbelievable effort put in by Dr. Scothorn, Gary Larrowe, Ken McFayden, and David Moorman—all these folks exercised what government can do, but what I also I came to appreciate the limitations.”
Grigg spoke about the conversations in 2016 that led to where the county is now in terms of exercising the opportunity to spend federal dollars on internet expansion.
Grigg added that the work the county’s done to expand the broadband throughout the community “is really impressive.”
At the close of the meeting, Scothorn went on thank a number of individuals he worked alongside, including the efforts of technology consultant Sandy Terry.
“We took $200,000 to give each home an opportunity for broadband service in Botetourt County to increase the worth of their house,” Scothorn said. “That is probably the biggest thing we’ve done financially for the $18.72 (on average) citizens spend to get broadband into their home.”
The county awaits an approval of the newest grant allotment announced at the end of the year.
For more about Botetourt’s ongoing broadband expansion, visit www.bocobroadband.info for more information and to access their interactive map updating the current status of the project.
