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All Points Broadband says Page County build will be rescheduled under BEAD, fewer poles and Q3 2025 turn-on expected
Summary
Tom Ennis of All Points Broadband told the Page County Board that the regional fiber project was resubmitted under BEAD funding, cutting pole attachments in the region from about 85,000 to under 20,000 and to roughly 1,800 in Page County, with service activation targeted for Q3 2025.
Tom Ennis, who identified himself as a representative of All Points Broadband, updated the board on the regional fiber project with a focus on Page County. Ennis said the project team worked with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (the State Broadband Office) to rescope the plan and shift some locations from the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative to the federal BEAD (referred to in the presentation as the BEED program) funding stream.
Ennis said the rescope reduced the planned number of pole attachments dramatically: engineering and construction had been scoped against roughly 85,000 pole attachments regionwide and are now below 20,000; in Page County the plan now counts about 1,800 pole attachments. He told the supervisors that Shenandoah Valley's USDA Rural Utilities Service approvals allowed an additional vendor for make-ready pole work, reducing schedule and execution risk.
The company said construction in some parts of the region is underway and that Page County activation is expected in Q3 2025. Ennis outlined a project schedule that includes a March 1 BEAD application submission, a mid-July state provisional-award notification and coordination with the NTIA after the state posts its plan (July 25 was cited as a date the state must send its plan to NTIA).
Ennis described work with VDOT residencies to secure permits for undergrounding and make-ready operations and said construction release to contractors depends on VDOT permit approvals. He emphasized that the county's financial contribution is capped and that the change in funding sources does not change customer-level service (the plan still aims for gigabit fiber-to-the-home for last-mile customers).
Supervisors raised questions about areas previously included in other federal awards (RDOF) and whether those census blocks are eligible for BEAD; Ennis said eligibility depends on whether the RDOF awardee has defaulted and that he would verify RDOF status of the contested census blocks and follow up with the board. He also said customers will be notified of activation on a rolling basis and encouraged residents to register at the project website.
