Wythe County officials say Citizens Cooperative may assume Point Broadband area; officials expect countywide access by year end

Wythe County officials told the Board of Supervisors on June 30 that Citizens Cooperative is negotiating with Point Broadband and the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission (PDC) to take over broadband service in parts of the county that Point Broadband will not serve.

Board member Hankins said Point Broadband has reached out to Citizens Cooperative to assume service in the county’s southeast corner — described in the staff remarks as roughly from Max Meadows onto Barrett Springs and back toward Idaho — where Citizens already has some footprint. Hankins said Mount Rogers PDC is managing the process with the state and that Citizens will need approvals from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the companies involved.

Hankins said Citizens believes it can make the required installs and that the project is working under Point Broadband’s November 30 deadline. “They recognize that’s a big lift, but they think they have the contractors necessary to get that done,” he said.

Hankins told the board the federal/state funding standard for the project requires a minimum service level of 100 megabits per second download and 20 megabits per second upload. He said Citizens told the county it will offer the required minimums but that price tiers will differ between providers.

Board members asked staff to obtain a final map of passings and cabinets installed by Point Broadband so the county can confirm areas left unserved. A resident concern raised during the meeting noted one neighborhood that reported no access even though crews had been in the area; staff asked residents to report specific addresses so they can follow up.

Hankins said county staff have told residents to expect at least one provider to be available to every resident by the end of the year “if everything works as it’s been promised.”