Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

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But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Back in 2021, ILSR noted that government leaders across Virginia had forged a partnership with a local private ISP and several nearby cooperatives to finally expand affordable, next-generation fiber into long unserved portions of eight predominantly rural Virginia counties.

Three years later and the partnership doesn’t appear to be working out all that well for Augusta County, with numerous county officials bickering about a lack of transparency and a conspicuous lack of deployment progress.

The original coalition involved Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC), All Points Broadband, and Dominion Energy Virginia collaborating to bring fiber to unserved parts of Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, and Warren counties.

Image

But recent reporting by the Augusta Free Press and the News Leader indicates that the Augusta County Board of Supervisors and the county administrator, Tim Fitzgerald, are increasingly fighting over what they say is a lack of any progress, and a lack of transparency between county agencies and the company.

Across the Commonwealth of Virginia, local governments, county broadband authorities, cooperatives, and private Internet Service Providers are leveraging the influx of American Rescue Plan funds to reach the state’s goal of achieving universal access to high-speed Internet connectivity by 2024.

With $850 million in state appropriations for broadband connectivity and $1.15 billion in local government and private service providers’ funding matches, the state is on track to invest $2 billion dollars toward broadband expansion in the coming years, and is currently investing in broadband expansion projects at record levels.

In August, Gov. Ralph Northam and the Virginia State Legislature agreed to devote $700 million of the state’s $4.3 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to expand access to broadband. The $850 million investment the state has announced will consist mostly of American Rescue Plan aid. The funds will be administered by the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI), which distributes grants to public-private partnerships to extend broadband service to unserved regions of the state, or areas that lack access to Internet service delivering connection speeds of at least 25/3 Megabits per second (Mbps).

Public-Private Partnerships Deep in the Heart of Virginia

From the marsh grasslands making up Virginia’s Eastern Shore, across the three peninsulas carved out by the Chesapeake Bay, all the way to the Shenandoah Valley in the West, a diverse array of regional partnerships have formed between Virginia’s local governments, electric and telephone cooperatives, and private ISPs as broadband expansion efforts continue to advance in 2022.

Across the Commonwealth of Virginia, local governments, county broadband authorities, cooperatives, and private Internet Service Providers are leveraging the influx of American Rescue Plan funds to reach the state’s goal of achieving universal access to high-speed Internet connectivity by 2024.

With $850 million in state appropriations for broadband connectivity and $1.15 billion in local government and private service providers’ funding matches, the state is on track to invest $2 billion dollars toward broadband expansion in the coming years, and is currently investing in broadband expansion projects at record levels.

In August, Gov. Ralph Northam and the Virginia State Legislature agreed to devote $700 million of the state’s $4.3 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to expand access to broadband. The $850 million investment the state has announced will consist mostly of American Rescue Plan aid. The funds will be administered by the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI), which distributes grants to public-private partnerships to extend broadband service to unserved regions of the state, or areas that lack access to Internet service delivering connection speeds of at least 25/3 Megabits per second (Mbps).

Public-Private Partnerships Deep in the Heart of Virginia

From the marsh grasslands making up Virginia’s Eastern Shore, across the three peninsulas carved out by the Chesapeake Bay, all the way to the Shenandoah Valley in the West, a diverse array of regional partnerships have formed between Virginia’s local governments, electric and telephone cooperatives, and private ISPs as broadband expansion efforts continue to advance in 2022.