More areas of Buckingham County will soon be connected to high-speed internet, thanks to some state help. On Friday, July 26, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that Firefly Fiber would be receiving $12.2 million to help its broadband expansion project  in Buckingham and nine other counties, including Appomattox, Amherst, Campbell, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison and Powhatan. 

“Thanks to the critical funding provided by the Virginia General Assembly and made available through the VATI program, we can now assure that every family and business in central Virginia will have access to reliable, affordable internet service equivalent to the best in the United States,” said Gary Wood. He serves as Firefly president and CEO. “We appreciate the hard work and support of Governor Youngkin, General Assembly members, as well as the support of the supervisors in each of the partner counties.”

Now this isn’t going to be a quick fix, Wood cautions. He and state officials both pointed to the fact many of the spots left to fill in are in rural areas, which aren’t always easy to get to or to lay wire in. The current estimate is that it will take about two years to finish the entire 603-mile project mentioned here, connecting fiber to 6,000 additional locations.

As for when work will be finished in Buckingham, that depends on where you live. Work on the Dillwyn area, for example, is expected to be finished by this winter, at least by the end of the year. Then the goal is to get both Sprouses Corner and Union Hill finished by the end of Spring 2025. Finally, Gravel Hill, along with the Lawford and Hatcher areas, should wrap up by the end of Summer 2025. 

Unexpected delays in broadband expansion 

As for why this is taking so long, part of the reason has nothing to do with money. Instead, it involves a number of wires damaged. Take last fall, for example. As dove season opened, some Buckingham hunters tried to shoot birds perched on or near a power line. In many cases they missed, hitting a fiber optic casing instead. That happened not just in Buckingham, but also Appomattox, Powhatan, Cumberland, Prince Edward and Lunenburg counties.
The problem is that the new fiber optic cables were set up on electric poles, running adjacent to and underneath the electric lines. The actual optical fibers are protected by glass tubing, which shatters on impact when shot and disrupts both internet and phone. So even after the lines were connected, at times, work crews had to go out and do repairs of lines that had been shot. This delayed starting projects in new areas. 

The second issue is one we’ve covered and some Buckingham residents have experienced on a pretty regular basis. Utility lines have been cut while digging to lay fiber optic over the last two years. 

When digging to install new fiber, the company calls Virginia’s 811 and requests a Miss Utility code. This is when a locating company is called in to mark where cables, water pipes or anything else that might be underground is located on behalf of the company whose lines are buried there within 36 hours. But if the location is marked incorrectly, then the lines get cut and progress is delayed while repairs to the existing infrastructure takes place. 

What is RISE?

Firefly’s Regional Internet Service Expansion (RISE) Project was launched in 2021 to expand broadband to parts of 13 counties, including Buckingham, Cumberland and Prince Edward counties. 

The RISE project includes 5,000 miles of fiber construction and will cost $330 million to complete. The project is executed by partnering with other area utilities to complete the fiber build, using funds secured from the VATI grants and county contributions to aid with construction costs.  

Firefly is also the internet service provider (ISP) for the CVEC fiber build, a $130 million plan that installed over 4,500 miles of fiber-optic cable in the 14 counties it serves, providing broadband internet access to all of its 39,000 members. The fiber network, completed in 2022, is owned by CVEC and uses laser light and glass fibers to move data at speeds of up to one gigabit per second, delivering world-class communications to CVEC members.

What about the rest of the area? 

So beyond Buckingham, when will the rest of the project be finished, you ask? The Hatchers area of Cumberland will be connected this winter, with Clinton, Trent’s Mill and Barter Mill Road areas set to be finished by the end of Spring 2025. The Appomattox work, with Promise Land and Salem Road, is also aiming for a Summer 2025 launch. And finally, work continues on Prince Edward County, with an overall target completion date of Fall 2025.