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“Broadband’s last mile is always the most expensive,” said Del. Terry Austin at the Oct. 25 candidates forum held by the chamber of commerce. “It can cost up to $40,000 per household to get the last mile. It’s made it practically unaffordable for a lot of localities.”
Rockbridge County is one of those localities that can’t afford to complete the connection to the relatively small number of households and businesses still lacking in access to high-speed internet without substantial financial assistance from the federal or state governments.
Rockbridge County, Lexington and Buena Vista were very successful, early on, in securing tens of millions of dollars from federal and state grant sources to get much of the Rockbridge area connected to high-speed internet service. We were, in fact, a model for other localities to follow in achieving high-speed connections with the creation of the Rockbridge Area Network Authority. However, those successes have slowed in the last couple of years as we’ve tried to complete the elusive last miles of connectivity.
Two years ago, Rockbridge County was unsuccessful when it applied for a local share of the $700 million that Virginia was divvying up among the state’s localities through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative for bringing connectivity to the more remote parts of the commonwealth. This past year the county failed to secure any of a much smaller pool of VATI funding – $55 million – allotted for last mile connectivity. The county is likely facing long odds of snagging any of this year’s allotment of VATI funding, which is now down to $42 million.
Fortunately, there is another source of funding available. The federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is distributing $42.45 billion throughout the country to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs. Virginia is slated to get $1.5 billion of this funding. At the chamber’s recent candidates forum, all six candidates vying for three Rockbridge area seats in the General Assembly promised to do what they can to assure the Rockbridge area secures its fair share of the funding.
“Broadband,” said Del. Ellen Campbell, “is not a luxury.” All the candidates pointed out that broadband is needed for tele-work, e-commerce, small businesses, education and tele-health care. “Here in rural areas we can’t be left out,” said Campbell. “We need to make sure we get the funding and that it’s used as rapidly as possible.”
Jade Harris, candidate for the state Senate, said, “We need to be fighting hard to ensure that that money comes to our district – not just [Northern Virginia] and not just Hampton Roads.” Once the last-mile connections are made, Harris added, “We’ve got to make sure people can afford broadband in the first place.” That is, federal programs have to be tapped to ensure that lower-income residents have the means to gain access to these broadband connections.
In addition to having such advocates in Richmond, those residents who are currently left out in the digital divide need to advocate for themselves. A way to do this is to participate in a survey in which state officials are attempting to ascertain where high-speed internet access is lacking or altogether absent. To find out how to participate in this survey, see the story on today’s front page.
“Broadband is this generation’s infrastructure project,” said Randall Wolf, candidate for delegate, at the recent candidates forum. He compared it to the railroads in the late 19th century and electricity in the 1930s. Broadband is an essential component of modern life, and we must do everything we can to secure those last miles of connectivity.
