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Board agrees to support Empower broadband application to fill internet 'holes' in county
Summary
Greensville County supervisors voted to send a letter of support for Empower's broadband grant application intended to extend fiber and apply for federal BEAD/BED funds to reach hundreds of unserved or underserved addresses.
David Lipscomb of Empower updated the Greensville County Board of Supervisors on the company’s fiber deployment in the region and asked the board to provide a letter of support for an application to the Department of Housing and Community Development.
Lipscomb described regional work funded through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative and said Empower’s regional projects passed 23,195 homes across several counties. He said the company will serve 3,862 addresses in Greensville County in total: about 2,034 addresses added via the 2023 Virginia telecommunications initiative project and roughly 1,800 additional addresses from a digital‑opportunity fund allocation.
Lipscomb said there remain addresses eligible for the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program (which he referenced as “BED, which is Broadband, Equity and, Access and Deployment”) and that the county’s signed letter of support would add a measurable preference to Empower’s federal application. He said federal eligibility mapping shows about 460 addresses with no service and 21 that are classified as underserved under the federal 100/20 Mbps definition, for a total of roughly 481 addresses that the BEAD/BED application aims to reach.
Lipscomb showed maps indicating where fiber is lit and active, said Empower has deployed more than 2,400 miles of fiber across the region and that 89 locations in the county are currently active. He described planned use of fiber that Dominion Virginia Power will construct under a memorandum of understanding to extend service to more rural areas.
After discussion of timelines and targets (Lipscomb said the current construction target is to complete covered projects by the end of 2026, with potential work extending into 2027), a board member moved and the board approved a motion to submit a letter of support for Empower’s BEAD/BED application; county staff said they would prepare the letter and get it out the next day.
Lipscomb summarized, "...we were able to acquire funding to pass 23,195 homes," and emphasized the local letter of support increases the application’s competitiveness. The board voted to provide the letter; members did not record a roll‑call tally in the public portion of the transcript.
