Broadband Deployment in Isle of Wight County, Southampton County, and the City of Suffolk

The Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) joint grant group of Southampton County, the City of Suffolk and Isle of Wight County met for a site visit with Charter/Spectrum on August 13. The group met in Suffolk and toured active site in all three communities, including one in Southampton County near Ivor. To date, almost 4,500 passings have been completed in Southampton County, greatly improving broadband access to our rural communities. In the 21^st Century economy, the agriculture and forestry industries rely more on broadband applications to facilitate precision agriculture that raises crop yields for our key products such as peanuts and timber. Ensuring that our rural areas have the best tools necessary to supply our region, state, nation and world with these key products helps all of us preserve and maintain Southampton County’s rural way of life.

To see the current progress of VATI passings, please check the map that the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (PDC) maintains on the project. The PDC administers the program with local support from each municipality, including FSEDI in Southampton County.