Virginia

Fiber broadband is recognized as the fifth necessary utility for 21st century life, on par with water, sewer, electricity, and paved roads that households and businesses need for education, entertainment, health care, commerce, employment, the delivery of essential government services, and so much more. The COVID pandemic underlined the need for reliable, high-speed, low-latency broadband for everyone, regardless of geographic location. But what tangible economic benefits does fiber deliver to homes, businesses, and communities?

All Points Broadband, Dominion Energy Virginia, and the Northern Neck Electric Cooperative announced the completion of the regional fiber-to-the-home broadband network in Virginia’s five-county Northern Neck region, bringing state-of-the-art fiber broadband to more than 10,000 locations in King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland counties previously unable to access broadband.

An “abject failure” is how one Culpeper County Supervisor characterized the county’s broadband project with All Points Broadband. At a January 2025 board meeting, All Points Senior Vice President of Business Development Tom Innes gave an update on the project, one that was extremely similar to the one he gave in November even though the company has a contracted deadline to be 80 percent complete with the project by the end of February.

Virginia has made significant progress in providing high-speed connectivity to all its households and businesses over the past decade and anticipates using $1.43 billion in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding to reach 100 percent connectivity to all addresses in the next few years.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has formally received two project rescope requests from the following Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) awardees to rescope their current VATI project area to

Brightspeed says that it has received $238 million in local, state, and federal grants and funds. The money, the company says, will expand the number of addresses passed by planned projects by 121,000 in 14 states. Brightspeed, which is based in North Carolina, says that it will continue to pursue state and federal grants. The funding:

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has recommended for award more than $250 million to 24 organizations to support digital skills and inclusion projects in communities across the country. The funding will support 24 projects across 39 states and territories. Awards will be issued following budget review and processing. 

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has recommended for award more than $276 million to 44 Tribal entities to expand high-speed Internet access and adoption. The funding from the nearly $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's Internet for All Initiative.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Under Secretary Dr. Basil Gooden announced nearly $173 million in funding to connect rural residents, farmers and business owners in the Dakotas and eight other states to reliable high-speed internet. Projects are being financed by the fifth round of the ReConnect Program.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) sees the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program as Virginia’s opportunity to finish the job of extending broadband access and also make long-term, transformational investments into broadband affordability and adoption. With the $1.48 billion in BEAD funds for Virginia, DHCD is finalizing plans to extend broadband infrastructure to the remaining unserved locations without a funded solution for connectivity and designing programs to meaningfully address broadband affordability and adoption.