BROADBAND INFORMATION HUB

Digital Opportunity

Digital Opportunity is the ability for citizens and businesses alike to be empowered to take full advantage of high-speed broadband service, once available to them.

Broadband Access

A strategic priority of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors is to provide all residents of Gloucester County options for access to unrestricted, fast, and reliable broadband service.

Fixed Wireless Update:

  • Open Broadband is now providing wireless Internet services in limited areas of the county. You can contact them here for a signal assessment and pricing.

  • Satellite offerings are also available. These include, but are not limited to, Starlink and HughesNet.

Wired Broadband

  • Virginia is releasing a Federal program called BEAD and you can read about it here.

  • The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program is Virginia’s opportunity to finish the job on extending broadband access and also make long-term, transformational investments into broadband affordability and adoption. With the $1.48 billion in Federal BEAD funds for Virginia, DHCD is finalizing plans to extend broadband infrastructure to the remaining unserved locations without a funded solution for connectivity and designing programs to meaningfully address broadband affordability and adoption.

  • There are two companies that have been chosen to receive funding. They are RiverStreet and Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services. RiverStreet will be awarded the bulk of the designated funds to provide fiber to 2,528 locations while Amazon will provide satellite service for 28. Click on the map for more details on the proposed coverage.

  • Please note that this funding is still awaiting Federal approval and we will post updates here. You can also read the latest updates on Virginia’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) website.

Does COX already pass your house?

  • Many of our residents have extended driveways that broadband providers have deemed to be too long to be economically feasible to reach. This has left residents with a choice of no broadband or extremely high connection costs. The Virginia DHCD now offers the Line Extension Customer Assistance Program (LECAP) which helps with these connection costs. You can learn more about this program here or go directly to the individual resident portal to apply.

Franchise Agreements with Cox Communications

The current Franchise Agreement between Gloucester County and Cox Communications Hampton Roads, LLC (Cox Communications) for the provision of cable television service in the County expired on March 2, 2021. Cox Communications tendered the required notice to commence the renewal process of the franchise. The County solicited public input on the franchise agreement through a public hearing held October 2, 2018 and since January 2019 through the Telecommunications Committee, to receive public comment and input regarding the proposed franchise renewal. In order to receive citizen input on the proposed franchise renewal agreement, the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors conducted a public hearing. A copy of the current and draft proposed cable franchise agreement between Gloucester County and Cox Communications are available for review here: