December 14, 2021
Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative (CBEC) and Roanoke County are pleased to announce that they have received $1,581,584.00 in funding for universal broadband coverage for homes and businesses from the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“We are so excited about the news that Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative and its subsidiary partnered with Roanoke County, has received a VATI Grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia to construct a fiber network in Roanoke County within the cooperatives electric territory,” says Jeff Ahearn, CBEC-CEO. “This project will pass approximately 495 addresses and will provide up to 1 gbps fiber broadband service and voice over IP phone service. We look forward to identifying additional funding opportunities and working with more counties within our service territory to expand this fiber network. This grant will further help us achieve universal coverage in Roanoke County when combined with other projects.”
The VATI grant will be an additional part of our progressive expansion of the electric cooperative smart grid, and will provide further leveraging to our facilities which will deliver broadband connectivity to our membership.