The deadline to connect Loudoun residents to high-speed fiber through All Points Broadband has been pushed back again, with project managers now expecting to finalize connections in the county in 2026.
The $61 million project—funded by federal and state grants, Dominion Energy and internet provider All Points Broadband—envisions the construction of 620 miles of fiber, with 176 miles to be attached to utility poles.
Originally planned to be completed in 2024, the project is now estimated to be finished nextJune.
All Points Vice President of Business Development Tom Innes said progress is being made and now 20 residents have been connected, with Dominion completing its portion of theconstruction.
“Now the focus is on last mile construction, and that is conducted by All Points Broadband and their contractors,” Assistant Director of Information Technology Dave Friedrich told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night.
The work in Loudoun has been broken down into five sections. The focus so far as been in section two, northwest Loudoun.
“They’ve completed nearly 15% of the last mile construction in that area, and have another 25% on the way today,” Friedrich said.
When completed focus will move to southwest Loudoun and then move east.
The challenge now lies with permitting through the Virginia Department of Transportation,which must be received for any rights-of-way owned by the state agency.
“We’re working closely with VDOT ensure that they are handling them as quickly and expeditiously as possible. We meet with them on a monthly basis to discuss solely this project, and we have their leadership engaged as well. So, we’ll continue to have those meetings and continue to reap progress through those conversations,” Friedrich said.
Any further delays could put funding received through the American Rescue Plan Act in jeopardy, Friedrich warned.
Loudoun has been divided into sections for broadband installation. All Points has begun installation in Loudoun 2 and will move to Loudoun 3 next.
Loudoun County
“From a financial perspective, the critical date is Dec. 31 of 2026. So funding, both ARPA dollars from the county, ARPA dollars from the state, all need to be spent by the end of 2026.Right now the project remains on schedule to that timeframe,” Friedrich said.
So far, $28 million has been spent, according to Innes, with $2 million coming from the county.
More than 8,000 Loudoun residents are expected to eventually connect to the service, although that will likely take years, Innes said.
“About 18 to 20% of those who could sign up have signed up, and we’re working through the installation process within. That is our target, about 20%. If we get up to 25 or 30% in the first quarter of making a private service area active, we’re hitting all of our objectives. … It takes several years for them to sign up for service,” Innes said.
While connections through other companies can cost thousands of dollars, Inness said All Points is offering a discounted connection fee of $99 d during the first year.
Friedrich said a federal initiative to expand high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas known as the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program will likely add another 1,700 residents able to connect.
“One thing I wanted to note was that what we’ve seen with the BEAD initiative is that the timeframes that they’re now allowing construction to take place is up to four years,” Friedrich said. “So, as it currently stands, BEAD would construction take us to 2030.”
What was originally proposed to be an 18-month project, will now stretch far longer.
“You’re now seeing the DHCD acknowledge the fact that the effort, not just in Loudoun County, but across the state, is much more challenging than anyone originally anticipated,” he said.