Virginia funds broadband deployment within the Commonwealth through several programs. The largest and main program is the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI).

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 quarterly 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: VATI FY22, FY23, and FY24 projects will provide access to broadband infrastructure to 334,873 passings across Virginia.

• Leveraged local and private funding: In addition to $828.4 million in state and federal funding awarded, FY22, FY23, and FY24 projects leverage a total of $1.228 billion in private and local match funding. To-date, $237 million of these awarded funds have been expended, with $297.7 million of these matching funds have been expended.

• Locations Built-To: To date, FY22 and FY23 projects have provided broadband access to 106,000 locations. The 10 FY24 projects are getting under contract and will begin final engineering and design, as well as construction in late 2024 through early 2025.

• Maximum Speeds Available: Over 93.4% of projects funded in FY22, FY23, and FY24 offer functionally gigabit (1,000 Mbps) download speeds, and over 73.7% offer functionally gigabit upload speeds.

In conclusion, 32 out of the 61 projects funded from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and General Funds from FY22, FY23, and FY24 are scheduled to being completed on time as of the time of this report’s submission. 29 projects, DHCD identifies, are at risk for incompletion or underperformance. 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, the permitting process to lay fiber in state-owned rights of way along roads, and permitting to cross federally owned lands. Looking forward, DHCD will continue its ongoing work to monitor these projects, assisting where appropriate in mitigating these broadband deployment challenges.
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(*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.