By Alexander Shedd
Virginia Senator Mark Warner visited the Craig-Botetourt Electric Co-Op in New Castle on Saturday, July 16 to speak for an hour with local leaders in broadband and other industry representatives from Craig and Botetourt County.
“A reason I ran for governor, and for that matter Senate, is that I felt there was this promise of an interconnected world that would provide this ‘great leveler’ so that all the jobs wouldn’t need to be in areas that are strictly metropolitan,” Warner began. “Time and distance wouldn’t be the divider that they’ve always been, and it would really be an opportunity for people to not have to leave their hometown to find a job.”
The timing of the visit coincided with the current use of COVID-19 federal relief funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law and the American Rescue Plan. Last month, Warner announced that $219.8 from the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund would be distributed for broadband funding in Virginia. Now, he emphasizes the need to utilize that money to expand high-speed broadband access to Virginia’s rural communities.
“Virginia was one of the first places to start putting in the basic infrastructures on mid-atlantic broadband,” Warner stated. “Now, with COVID and with the funding coming out of that, there really is not going to be any reason we can’t get this done.”
Warner also noted that, speaking from his time in the telecom industry, most rural broadband companies have failed. What makes this time different, he said, is allowing rural electric cooperatives to provide the “last mile” of service to their customers, meaning servicing the physical final connection between a provider and a customer. According to Warner, large providers typically have not been equipped to adequately service the last mile in rural communities.
“I think it’s really important because many people who’ve tried in the past when we had municipal broadband–people didn’t know how to operate the system,” said Warner. “It’s one thing to go without, it’s another thing to be able to service your customers and operate on an ongoing basis. So both the fact that the rural electric co-ops can provide last mile, and the bigger players, the AEPs and the Dominions, can do the middle there…I think it’s a good idea.”
Unfortunately, Warner also noted that, due to the current historic spike in inflation and large-scale supply chain issues, certain hurdles still remain. One in particular is the cost of fiber optic cable, which has more than tripled since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Warner commented gravely.
After addressing his major points, Warner opened the floor for questions both on broadband and in general. Another issue raised during the hour-long meeting was the difficulty in dealing with railroad companies while installing broadband infrastructure. Fiber optic cable must be run underneath train tracks, and only a representative from the railroad company is allowed to undertake such a project; it was noted that these companies have been notoriously unpredictable with scheduling and rescheduling. Additionally, an individual from Craig raised the idea of taxing the Jefferson National Forest land at a higher level to increase county revenues. Warner replied to both that these are organizations that are difficult to work with politically, but assured all that his office would look into it.