Work to bring broadband internet to underserved areas in Campbell County continues.

In December 2021, then-Gov. Ralph Northam announced Virginia will deploy $2 billion toward universal broadband coverage.

The grant awards from the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative program were distributed to 13 state localities in underserved regions.

Companies such as RiverStreet Networks, Firefly Fiber Broadband and Shentel were a part of the grants, bringing fiber broadband to surrounding counties, including Campbell.

The Campbell County Broadband Authority, composed of members from the board of supervisors, received an update last week on the three companies’ progress so far.

Rob Taylor, director of business development and government relations at RiverStreet Networks, said the engineers’ plan is to begin construction in the “coming quarter,” as the original plan was to begin construction in 2024.

He said engineers have been able to get the fiber design finalized and will begin field staking soon.

Gary Wood, president of Firefly Fiber Broadband, said the company mailed out a letter to residents in its service area on July 26, notifying them of the fiber constructions and services available.

Wood said Firefly plans to have a virtual town hall Oct. 26 and fiber construction will begin in the next two to three weeks.

“It should start very soon. You should start seeing crews off of 460 on both sides in that area, building the fiber out,” he said.

Wood said fiber construction should take about eight weeks from the start, contingent on the three railroad crossings and U.S. 460 crossings, along with weather.

Splicing, the method of joining two fiber optic cables together, will take another four weeks with final extensions being the last step.

Wood said initially, there will be no installation costs for residents in the service area up to 2,500 feet off the road, with the idea of connections beginning in December or January.

Jessica Wilmer, of Shentel, said the company will bring broadband to over 3,500 underserved homes and businesses in its portion of the project — about $3.3 million from the county, $9.7 million included from Shentel and about $6.4 million in VATI funding.

Wilmer said it’s a two-year project period with the goal to complete construction September 2024.

She explained the company has 23 designated service areas in parts of Rustburg, Concord, Gladys and Altavista.

Twenty percent of the build out is buried, 70% is new aerial attachments and 10% is adding additional cables to the company’s existing plant.

Wilmer said the company is still waiting on the pending permits, before construction can start.

She said the company has about 175 miles of primary permits submitted, to date — more than 2,000 AEP poles, more than 200 Dominion Energy poles, more than 1,000 Southside Electric poles, 35 Verizon poles and more than two miles of VDOT permits submitted.

“Seventy percent of our build is aerial attachments. So we’re really struggling with those attachments right now,” she said.

For more information on the projects visit http://www.campbellcountyva.gov/659/Local-Broadband-Services.