Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Technical Performance Report (November 2, 2023)
Summary
Letter dated November 2, 2023 to Glenn Youngkin, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Caren D. Merrick, Secretary of Commerce and Trade, the chairs of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and House Appropriations Committee, and the vice chair of the Broadband Advisory Council, regarding the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Technical Performance Report. It states that the report was prepared by the Office of Broadband within the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The key takeaways state that VATI FY22 and FY23 projects will provide access to broadband infrastructure to 310,074 locations across Virginia. They also state that $778.7 million in state and federal funding was awarded and that the projects leverage a total of $1.136 billion in private and local match funding.
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Cite this document
“Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Technical Performance Report (November 2, 2023).”
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November 2, 2023
The Honorable Glenn Youngkin
Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Patrick Henry Building
Richmond, VA 23219
The Honorable Caren D. Merrick
Secretary of Commerce and Trade
Patrick Henry Building
Richmond, VA 23219
The Honorable Janet D. Howell
Chair, Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee
900 East Main Street
Pocahontas Building, Room E509
Richmond, VA 23219
The Honorable Barry D. Knight
Chair, House Appropriations Committee
900 E Main Street
Pocahontas Building, Room W1304
Richmond, VA 23219
The Honorable Jennifer B. Boysko
Vice Chair & Interim Chair, Broadband Advisory Council
900 East Main Street
Pocahontas Building, Room E513
Richmond, VA 23219
Re: Virginia Telecommunication Initiative
Technical Performance Report
Dear Governor Youngkin, Secretary Merrick, Chair Howell and Chairman Knight, and Vice
Chairman Boysko:
Executive Summary
The Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) has been Virginia’s main source of funding for
broadband deployment. VATI provides grants to localities partnered with internet service
providers to finance the deployment of high-speed broadband to locations (called a “passing”)
within the Commonwealth that are determined to be “unserved.” Passings are places where the
internet can be accessed – thus it could be a business, community anchor, a home, or an apartment
complex. A passing is unserved 1 if it lacks access to internet speeds of 100 Megabits per second
(Mbps) download and 20 Megabits (Mbps) upload (“100/20”).
This report is required by statute and has been prepared by the Office of Broadband located within
the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). This report tracks the
technical performance of the VATI provider partners in their work to deploy broadband. This
report adheres to the factors that the General Assembly directed to be tracked and presents them in
the manner directed by the General Assembly.
Below are the key takeaways from the report:
● Total passings to be served (locations ‘passed’ by broadband infrastructure: VATI
FY22 and FY23 projects will provide access to broadband infrastructure to 310,074
locations across Virginia.
● Locations Built-To: To date, FY22 projects have provided broadband access to 50,305
locations, which is within 90% of the projected connections for this time period. The
14 FY23 projects are recently getting under contract and will begin final engineering
and design, as well as construction in 2024.
● Maximum Speeds Available: Over 92% of projects funded in FY22 and FY23 offer
gigabit (1,000 Mbps) download speeds, and over 67% offer gigabit upload speeds.
These speeds are well in excess of the minimum 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps
speeds required by VATI.
● Leveraged local and private funding: In addition to $778.7 million in state and federal
funding awarded, FY22 and FY23 projects leverage a total of $1.136 billion in private
and local match funding, of which over $138.2 million has been expended to-date.
In conclusion, 45 out of the 49 projects funded from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(ARPA) and General Funds from FY22 and FY23 are scheduled to being completed on time as of
the time of this report’s submission. 13 projects are either at risk, or potential risk for requesting a
timeline extension. Justification for these delays include the make-ready effort, which includes
preparing existing electric poles for aerial broadband network construction, as well as supply chain
and labor markets, streamlining utility locate efforts, railroad crossings, and permitting to cross
state and federally owned lands. Looking forward, DHCD will continue its ongoing work monitoring
the progress of projects. When necessary, DHCD staff provides technical assistance and coordinates
discussions between grantees, their VATI ISP partner and relevant parties to help mitigate issues by sharing
best practices to mitigate challenges as well as explore opportunities to collaborate with state level
stakeholders to streamline processes.
1
In the FY22 VATI process, the definition of unserved was set at 25/3. This definition of unserved has been upgraded to
those passings lacking access to broadband at speeds of 100/20 for the FY23 VATI process.
2
Formal Report
Pursuant to Chapter 1 of the Virginia Acts of Assembly of Special Session II of 2021 and continued
forward in the 2022 Special Session 1 under Chapter 2 of the Virginia Acts of Assembly, enclosed is
the Annual Performance Report of the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI). This report was
established by the General Assembly and Governor under Chapter 1 of the Virginia Acts of Assembly
of Special Session II of 2021 and continued forward in the 2022 Special Session 1 under Chapter 2 of
the Virginia Acts of Assembly.
Item 115 L.6. of the 2022 Acts of Assembly Special Session I requires that DHCD deliver an annual
performance report on funds awarded through the 2021 Acts of Assembly Special Session I (also
known as the budget bill) of allocated ARPA funds and Item 114, Paragraph L. of Chapter 552, 2021
Acts of Assembly, Special Session I (General funds allocated to VATI through the budget bill).
Administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), VATI
enhances the sustainability and growth of communities throughout the Commonwealth by preparing
those communities to build, utilize, and capitalize on broadband infrastructure. The primary objective
of VATI is to provide financial assistance to supplement construction costs by private sector
broadband service providers to extend service to areas that presently are unserved by any broadband
provider. This program requires a public-private partnership.
The directive to form this annual performance report establishes that:
The annual performance report shall contain information by grant recipient and year on the following
metrics: (1) Number of passings; (2) Grant dollars expended by fund source (State and Local
Recovery Fund, Capital Project Fund, general fund state grants and match); (3) Contract
performance period, and on-time progress towards project delivery; (4) Maximum advertised project
speeds available; and, (5) Achievement of key project milestones. The annual performance report
shall include an evaluation of any projects under risk of incompletion or underperformance.
In accordance with this structure, DHCD has included information in this report of the projects that
were awarded funds since December 2021, and includes the projects announced in the FY2022 and
FY2023 cycles, including those projects funded under the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal
Recovery Fund and Coronavirus Capital Projects Funds allocations under the American Rescue Plan
Act of 2021. Project information displayed in this report reflects monthly report data from September
and October 2023.
Please let us know if you would like further information or require additional copies of this report.
The project summaries included in this report are updated quarterly on the VATI Project Dashboard,
accessible through dhcd.virginia.gov/vati.
Sincerely,
Bryan W. Horn
Director, DHCD
2023 Annual Performance Report for the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative – FY2022 Projects
Award Funding Percent Percent Maximum
Total Percent
Passings in Source Awarded Funding Expended, Out Expended, Advertised
Grantee Internet Service Project Passings Complete, Agreement Agreement Status Award Amount GF, General Fund Expended Total Match Match Funding
of Total Out of Project
Provider Partner Provided Passings Start Date End Date Funding Expended
Area SLFRF, Awarded Total Speeds
Broadband Provided
Coronavirus State Funding Match Available
Access to Broadband
and Local Fiscal Funding (Download/
Date Access to Date
Recovery Fund Upload
CPF, Coronavirus Mbps)
Capital Projects
Fund
Bedford ZiTEL 4,114 1,987 15-Jun-2022 15-Dec-2023 On time $8,523,908.31 SLFRF $5,520,749.11 65% $10,208,347 $6,611,723.48 65% 1000/1000
48%
Bedford Shentel 4,734 87 2% 9-Sep-2022 9-Sep-2024 On time $9,148,553.00 GF, SLFRF $0 0% $14,513,728 $0 0% 1000/1000
Botetourt Lumos Networks 1901 734 39% 11/1/2022 - 5/1/2024 On time $3,084,796 CPF $478,348.00 16% $4,824,937 $1,207,783.20 25% 1000/1000
Campbell Shentel 3509 63 2% 21-Sep-2022 21-Sep-2024 On time $6,443,000.00 GF, SLFRF $77,468.58 1% $12,978,455.00 $39,259.78 0% 1000/1000
Central Shenandoah PDC MGW 2470 88 4% 1-Jun-2022 1-Jun-2024 On time $7,876,800 SLFRF $2,669,823.72 34% $3,118,706.00 $1,082,339.67 35% 1000/50
Chesapeake Cox 279 315 100% 1-Jun-2022 1-Dec-2023 On time $580,435.00 SLFRF $580,435.00 100% $434,599 $701,393.00 161% 940/35
Commonwealth RC Kinex 11,397 3,812 33% 14-Jun-2022 14-Jun-2025 On time $15,000,000.00 GF $4,474,730.63 29.832% $13,426,482 $4,040,546.89 30.094% 200/10
Culpeper All Points 4269 0 0% 3-Aug-2022 3-Feb-2024 Delayed $8,600,000 GF $2,804,691.76 33% $21,914,454.00 $2,156,898.20 10% 1000/1000
Broadband
Cumberland Plateau PDC Point Broadband 6,982 1,807 26% 6-Sep-2022 6-Sep-2024 On time $23,478,429.00 CPF $2,608,349.00 11% $6,459,000 $717,566.00 11% 1000/500
Dinwiddie RuralBand 1,622 0 0% 14-Jul-2022 31-Dec-2024 Delayed $7,532,055.00 SLFRF $5,240 0.07% $12,466,640 $9,732 0.078% 1000/1000
Eastern Shore of
Eastern Shore of Virginia Virginia Broadband
Broadband Authority Authority 11,091 5,942 54% 1-Jun-2022 31-May-2024 On time $12,310,777.25 SLFRF $5,548,106.77 45% $3,314,856 $1,113,635.88 34% 200/200
Floyd Citizens 723 556 75% 1-Jun-2022 1-Dec-2023 $1,310,267.00 SLFRF $853,786.43 65% $1,111,725 $89,162.05 8% 1000/500
Delayed
Franklin Shentel 3,508 183 5% 17-Oct-2022 17-Oct-2024 On time $11,832,456.00 GF, SLFRF $1,465,754 12.38% $18,646,520 $3,962,963 26.92% 1000/1000
Charter
Hampton Roads PDC Communications 12,223 992 8% 8-Jul-2022 8-Jul-2025 On time $21,120,053.50 SLFRF $4,649,940.42 22% $13,839,523 $3,156,163.24 23% 1000/500
Hanover All Points 6,198 0 0% 1-Aug-2022 1-Aug-2024 Delayed $13,970,000.00 SLFRF $3,631,562.45 25.995% $41,469,332 $6,362,226.53 15.342% 1000/1000
Broadband
King William All Points 2236 0 0% 24-Jan-2022 3-Aug-2023 Delayed $5,400,000 SLFRF $1,577,320.47 29% $12,330,632.00 $2,156,898.20 17% 1000/1000
Broadband
Scott County
Telephone
LENOWISCO PDC Cooperative 10,982 3,653 33% 13-Jun-2022 13-Dec-2024 On time $22,190,500.00 SLFRF, CPF $6,765,176.41 30% $3,691,701 $2,108,913.18 57% 1000/1000
Loudoun All Points 8629 0 0% 1-Jul-2022 1-Jul-2024 Delayed $17,524,000.00 SLFRF $4,003,000.96 23% $42,376,126.00 $5,448,166.80 13% 1000/1000
Broadband
Middlesex All Points 970 0 0% 22-Jul-2022 22-Jan-2024 Delayed $2,050,000.00 SLFRF $653,676.38 32% $8,453,887.00 $1,132,991.43 13% 1000/1000
Broadband
Mount Rogers PDC Point Broadband 27,450 22,276 81% 1-Jun-2022 31-May-2024 On time $65,883,228.00 CPF $37,730,478.90 57% $33,082,600 $21,052,691.57 64% 1000/500
New River Valley 13-Mar-2023 13-Mar-2026 On time
Regional Commission
Bland and Montgomery Gigabeam 12,094 0 0% $39,233,355.00 CPF $21,000 0% $38,247,340 $0 0% 1000/1000
New River Valley 6-Dec-2022 6-Dec-2024 On time
Regional Commission All Points 7,872 0 0% $29,122,000.00 CPF $27,281.25 0% $26,103,057.19 $0 0% 1000/1000
Pulaski Broadband
Northern Neck PDC All Points 3411 0 0% 22-Sep-2022 22-Mar-2024 Delayed $3,190,500.00 SLFRF $1,009,110.94 32% $20,477,692.00 $3,407,205.09 17% 1000/1000
Broadband
Northern Shenandoah Valley All Points 41690 0 0% 22-Jul-2022 22-Jul-2025 Delayed $96,873,500 SLFRF $176,500.00 0% $206,243,317 $0.00 0% 1000/1000
RC Broadband
Roanoke CBEC-Bee Online 495 0 0% 9-Sep-2022 12-Dec-2023 $1,581,584.00 SLFRF $119,984.06 8% $1,646,138.00 $1,423,731.99 86% 300/300
On time
Roanoke Cox 396 35% 1-Sep-2022 1-Mar-2024 On time $1,535,264.00 SLFRF $720,266.00 47% $1,597,927.00 $749,665.00 47% 940/35
140
Roanoke B2X 520 45 9% 22-Sep-2022 22-Mar-2024 $170,609.00 GF $0 0% $177,572 $72,829.81 41% 25/4
On time
Roanoke Shentel 0 0% 3-Oct-2022 3-Oct-2024 On time $490,000.00 SLFRF $0 0% $510,000 $0 0% 1000/1000
177
Shenandoah Shentel 4139 588 14% 1-Aug-2022 1-Aug-2024 On time $12,176,662 SLFRF $376,569.60 3% $20,733,235 $641,186.09 3% 1000/1000
EMPOWER
Southside PDC Broadband 14,634 2,309 15.77% 22-Jul-2022 22-Jul-2025 On time $69,431,635.00 SLFRF $12,764,275.77 18.384% $84,677,555 $15,494,893.28 18.229% 1000/1000
Stafford Comcast 634 489 77% 6-Sep-2022 6-Mar-2024 On time $3,398,156 SLFRF $2,344,830.46 69% $2,364,383 $1,035,045.51 44% 1200/35
Sussex RuralBand 2,267 451 20% 13-Jun-2022 13-Dec-2023 $4,896,892.00 SLFRF $1,020,313 20.836% $1,678,571 20.838% 1000/1000
Delayed $349,786
Thomas Jefferson PDC Firefly Broadband 36,225 10% 15-Aug-2022 15-Aug-2025 On time $79,027,930.00 SLFRF 22.633% $208,969,670 22.874% 1000/1000
3,788 $17,886,777.33 $47,799,069.68
Charter Delayed $26,000.00 1.669%
West Piedmont PDC Communications 690 0 0% 1-Aug-2022 1-Aug-2025 $1,557,385.00 CPF $1,450,145 $0 0% 1000/500
West Piedmont PDC (East) RiverStreet 24,641 0 0% 3-Aug-2022 3-Aug-2025 On time $87,003,888.00 SLFRF $5,051,093.65 5.806% $65,421,341 $4,119,862.38 6,297% 1000/1000
Networks
West Piedmont PDC (West) RiverStreet 10,056 0 0% 30-Sep-2022 30-Sep-2025 Delayed $33,571,073.00 CPF $62,000.00 0.18% $61,794,113 $0 0% 1000/1000
Networks
*Data as of September and October 2023 Monthly Project Reports
2023 Annual Performance Report for the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative – FY2023 Projects
Award Funding Percent Match Percent Maximum
Passings Total Percent Awarde Fundi Expended,
Source Expended, Advertised
Internet in Passings Complete, Agreement Agreement d Total ng Out of Total Project Speeds
Grantee Status Award Amount GF, General Out of
Service Project Provided Passings Start Date End Date Funding Match Expen Match
Fund SLFRF, Total Available
Provider Area Broadband Provided Expend Fundin ded Funding
Coronavirus State Awarded (Download/
Partner Access to Broadban ed g
and Local Fiscal Funding Upload Mbps)
Date d Access
Recovery Fund
to Date
CPF,
Coronavirus
Capital
Projects
Fund
Shentel 565 0 0% NA NA Contract Pending GF $0 $0 $3,204,044.05 $0 0% 1000/1000
Bedford County $1,373,161.74
Breezeline 3910 0 0% NA NA Contract Pending GF $0 $0 $15,247,000.00 $0 0% 1000/600
Caroline County $6,446,000.00
Verizon 854 0 0% NA NA Contract GF $0 $0 $5,610,501.00 $0 0% 940/880
Caroline County Pending $2,032,334.00
All Points 494 0 0% NA NA Contract Pending GF $0 $0 $12,494,553.00 $0 0% 1000/1000
Chesterfield County Broadband $755,523.00
Breezeline 3526 0 0% 9/6/2023 9/6/2026 On Time GF $0 $0 $19,113,941.00 $0 0% 1000/600
Essex County $8,753,009.00
Citizens 543 0 0% 8/18/2023 2/18/2025 On Time GF $0 $0 $827,173.00 $0 0% 1000/500
Floyd County $1,339,387.00
Verizon 1347 0 0% 10/3/2023 4/3/2025 On Time GF $0 $0 $4,435,162.20 $0 0% 940/880
Greensville County $2,956,774.80
All Points 412 0 0% NA NA Contract Pending GF $0 $0 $6,027,280.42 $0 0% 1000/1000
Henrico County Broadband $501,620.00
FiberLync 576 0 0% NA NA Contract Pending GF $0 $0 $8,391,058.00 $0 0% 1000/1000
Orange County $2,181,000.00
Shentel 2440 0 0% 9/26/2023 9/26/2025 On Time GF $0 $0 $9,168,655.00 $0 0% 1000/1000
Shenandoah County $4,936,968.00
EMPOWER 4,804 0 0% 9/26/2023 9/26/2026 On Time GF $0 $0 $21,677,288.16 $0 0% 1000/1000
Broadband
Southside PDC $8,556,028.84
West Piedmont PDC RiverStreet 2,102 0 0% 10/5/2023 10/5/2026 On Time GF $0 $0 $3,548,250.00 $0 0% 1000/1000
(Pittsylvania) Networks $3,548,250.00
RiverStreet 3356 0 0% NA NA Contract Pending GF $0 $0 $5,205,136.00 $0 0% 1000/1000
West Piedmont PDC (East) Networks $8,155,864.00
*Data as of September and October 2023 Monthly Project Reports
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