Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI)

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The Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) extends broadband service to currently unserved areas. VATI prepares communities to build, utilize, and capitalize on telecommunications infrastructure with the goal of creating strong, competitive communities. 

Looking for BEAD Information?

The office of broadband has created a new webpage for all things bead related! This new page can be accessed at https://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/bead


Virginia Make Ready Initiative

Guidelines and Criteria

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has released the Virginia Make Ready Initiative (VMRI) Guidelines and Criteria.

 

Application Process

The Office of Broadband will consider applications and award funding on a rolling basis.

Application review dates are provided below. The Office of Broadband will make a specific allocation of funding available each review date, any unobligated funds will carry over to the next review date. The application for this program is located in DHCD’s Centralized Application Management System

Application Review Start Date (Application Deadline)

Funding Available

September 12, 2024

$7.5 million

October 10, 2024

$7.5 million

November 14, 2024

$7.5 million

December 5, 2024

$7.5 million

January 14, 2025

$3.28 million

February 12, 2025

$1.2 million

Virginia Telecommunication Initiative FY2024

FY2024 Virginia Telecommunication Initiative Awards

On July 24, 2024, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced more than $41 million in Virginia Telecommunication Initiative grants. Read the full announcement here. More information about these projects is available below! 

Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and Firefly

  • In partnership with Firefly, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 5,825 unserved locations in Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison and Powhatan counties.

Spotsylvania County and Port 80

  • In partnership with Port 80, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to up to 3,740 unserved locations in Spotsylvania County.

Franklin County and ZiTEL

  • In partnership with ZiTel, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 2,543 unserved locations in Franklin County.

Giles County and PemTel

  • In partnership with PemTel, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 629 unserved locations in Giles County.

Southside Planning District Commission and Empower

  • In partnership with Empower Broadband, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 3,983 unserved locations in the counties of Halifax, Mecklenburg, and Brunswick counties.

Alleghany County and Bee Online

  • In partnership with Craig Botetourt Electric Cooperative/Bee Online, this project will build a broadband network to 370 unserved locations within Alleghany County.

Orange County and FiberLync

  • In partnership with Fiberlync, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 425 unserved locations within Orange County.

Rockbridge County and BARC Connects

  • In partnership with BARC Connects, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 293 unserved locations in Rockbridge County.

Rockbridge County and Brightspeed 

  • In partnership with Brightspeed, this project will build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network to 625 unserved locations in Rockbridge County.

Botetourt County and Comcast 

  • In partnership with Comcast, this project will extend broadband access to 62 unserved locations in Botetourt County. 

FY2025 VATI Program

The FY2025 & FY2026 biennium budget outlines $10 million in funding in each year of the biennium for last-mile broadband deployment projects. The Office of Broadband will release details on the FY2025 Round of the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative when additional details and timeframes are known regarding the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

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VIRGINIA TELECOMMUNICATION INITIATIVE PROJECT DASHBOARD

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has released the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) Project Dashboard for projects funded in the FY21 and FY22 program cycles. The dashboard reports on key project progress indicators, including dollars expended and locations provided broadband access. The dashboard is designed for residents and other stakeholders to stay informed on the progress of projects in their areas to provide broadband access. 

Current VATI Rescopes

The project(s) listed below have formally requested to rescope their current VATI project to include passings outside of their original project area. As such they are subject to a thirty (30) day challenge period. If you would like to submit a challenge, please contact the VATI team at VATI@dhcd.virginia.gov

Floyd 2023 VATI Rescope

Some of the passings that were originally included in the project have been determined to be un-serviceable due to unlocatable landowners or abandoned homes. This rescope proposes to add additional passings to the project in order to reassign the unspent grant funding. 

Rockbridge 2024 VATI Rescope

This rescope reflects removal of a federally awarded broadband expansion project area. The re-scope also identifies additional unserved passings nearby the original project area and proposes to provide broadband access to these unserved passings.