Broadband is Coming to Rappahannock County
Vision – A rural community where everyone has access to next-generation broadband.
Mission – Bringing affordable Broadband Service to our county one connection at a time while enhancing overall quality of life and serving community needs in accord with our scenic, rural nature.
Objective – Reducing capital/start-up costs and ongoing operating expenses for private sector providers to provide a choice of next-generation broadband access in unserved and underserved areas of our rural community.
Latest Update – RCBA held a meeting on January 8, 2025 with a presentation by All Points Broadband and discussion, along with a unanimous vote to send a letter of endorsement of APB’s application for grant funding under the Federal Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.
The BEAD program provides additional project funding and includes more locations than previously funded under the VATI program. The BEAD funding does not require any County funds or local matches.
View the agenda and a video of the meeting.
APB’s presentation from the meeting can be found here.
In December, APB gave a tour of fiber installations to homes in Augusta County. A summary report of the tour and presentation is here.
Who We Are
Rappahannock County Broadband Authority (RCBA)
The Rappahannock County Broadband Authority has partnered with All Points Broadband and the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative to bring fiber-optic service to every “unserved” household in Rappahannock County.
The RCBA consists of five members. It was created in order to have a legal entity that was capable of entering into contracts and financial transactions to further the development of broadband accessibility in the County.
We need your help!
ANYONE can register! While most locations in the county have no wired broadband service, we would like to hear from everyone. The survey will guide you to enter information on whether you are currently served or not.
The process is especially important for those who are unserved but who after entering their address on the website receive the message “You are outside of a service area. We cannot provide services for you at this time.” If that happens to you, please confirm your household interest, by entering your contact information on the APB website and including detailed comments regarding your current access to cable internet including whether you have sought a connection to cable internet in the past but were told you were too far away or were presented with an expensive special construction charge.
The registration process is measuring interest only – there is no cost and no commitment by taking this action.
Project Agreements Signed
The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) executed the final required agreement to formally kick-off the All Points Broadband (APB) fiber to the home project. The agreement was signed on July 22, 2022 starting the three-year agreement period, which is now set to conclude in July 2025. This follows the execution of an agreement between NSVRC and APB as well as the fiscal agent agreement between NSVRC and the eight counties.
See the time line below for the path forward.
Summary map of Low Level Design with Fiber Service Areas designated by the colored sections. Source: All Points Broadband.
