Stimulus Proposal Includes Broadband for Rural Areas

BRISTOL, Va. – Capitol Hill proposals to include funds for rural broadband in the federal stimulus bill could further the efforts of Bristol Virginia Utilities.
A compromise bill before the Senate includes $7 billion for expanding broadband, down from $9 billion in the Senate Finance Committee’s bill. The House bill includes $6 billion for broadband.

Recent national surveys by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found 43 percent of Americans either have no Internet access at home or rely on slower dialup service.

For the past three years, BVU has been working to extend fiber-optic technology beyond the borders of its electricity service area.

The city utilities provider has formed partnerships with the Cumberland Plateau and Lenowisco Planning District commissions to extend fiber-optic “backbone” into portions of Tazewell, Russell, Dickenson, Buchanan, Wise, Scott and Lee counties. BVU also has established a separate loop along Interstates 81 and 77, through Smyth, Wythe and Bland counties.

“We’ve received a total of about $13.5 million from the Virginia Tobacco [Indemnification and Community Revitalization] Commission to build these loops,” said Jim Kelley, vice president of operations for BVU’s OptiNet division.

Towns as far ranging as Abingdon, Marion, Wytheville, Richlands, Claypool Hill, Hansonville, Coeburn, Wise, Norton, Lebanon and west to Jonesville are wired or scheduled to be wired.

With the exception of Abingdon and Washington County, Va., the program only offers telephone and Internet services to commercial and industrial customers.

Those services are credited with helping attract employers like CGI-AMS and Northrop Grumman to Lebanon, Va.

“We would love to be able to offer this to residential customers,” Kelley said. “My goal, since coming to BVU, was to serve Southwest Virginia.”
Serving such a wide residential area would require “quite a few” more million dollars, Kelley said.

Regardless of the federal outcome, however, BVU is currently seeking additional funds to continue its expansion efforts, Kelley said.

If federal funding makes the final cut, BVU would apply, utilities President Wes Rosenbalm said.
“Yes, that is something we would seek, if it became available,” Rosenbalm said. “It is a good idea, because people want to live where those types of services are available. It would give people the tools to run a business from their home or to take advantage of all of the online offerings that colleges are now doing.”

Kelley said the federal program would only be a drop in the national bucket.
“I think it’s great. This is a first-time opportunity for the government to help expand true broadband speeds to unserved and underserved areas,” Kelley said. “But that [amount] is only a beginning. It would take far more than $6 [billion] to $9 billion to complete the work nationwide.”

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