Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Broadband topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Broadband official: BEAD awards expand service to roughly 692 Lancaster County addresses; All Points to open VADI adjacencies
Summary
Broadband staff reported state BEAD preliminary awards covering about 692 addresses in Lancaster County and said All Points Broadband will begin serving additional VADI-area addresses; county will provide a library flyer to help residents check availability.
Lancaster County broadband staff told supervisors on Aug. 28 that preliminary BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) awards name several providers for specific addresses in the county and that All Points Broadband will soon offer service to addresses adjacent to VADI-covered homes.
Broadband Authority manager John Kidd said preliminary BEAD awards list 692 Lancaster County addresses: All Points Broadband 680, Breezeline 2 and Amazon Cooper (Starlink / Amazon satellite service) 10. Kidd said the total 692 is an improvement from earlier estimates of roughly 400 addresses. He asked staff to circulate a provider contact number for residents and said All Points plans to open previously unlisted addresses in August–September; the number provided for All Points Broadband customer inquiries was (804) 817-3055.
Kidd also said the county had 2,161 homes included in an earlier VADI (Virginia’s state broadband grant) list; homes built adjacent to VADI-served addresses were previously excluded but All Points will now evaluate and, where feasible, serve those addresses. BEAD award data are treated as confidential; the Commonwealth’s mapping tool provides GPS coordinates but not a public address list, Kidd said.
Why it matters: The BEAD program is a major federal initiative; preliminary awards indicate which provider will build and serve specific unserved locations. Local leaders said the combined VADI and BEAD coverage will substantially increase broadband availability countywide but stressed that price and the availability of low-cost plans (for example, the federal Affordable Connectivity Program) remain open questions.
County follow-up: Kidd said he will work with the county library to provide a flyer residents can use to check availability, and he asked the county to help publicize the All Points customer service number. He also noted ongoing uncertainties in federal and state affordability programs and said the county will continue to monitor NTIA review of state BEAD submissions through the fall.
Ending: Staff will continue outreach and provide an address-check flyer at library locations and other public points of access; BEAD awards remain preliminary until finalized through the state and NTIA processes.
