Two electric cooperatives are teaming up to quickly deliver world-class broadband to at least 10,000 members in unserved and underserved communities in Virginia.
Fredericksburg-based Rappahannock Electric Cooperative is building a 2,100-mile fiber optic network across five counties in its electric service territory that Firefly Fiber BroadbandSM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lovingston-based Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, is leasing to deliver fiber-to-the-home broadband.
So far, nearly 6,000 homes have been connected since the co-ops began working together last spring, surpassing the halfway point of expected connections in the project in just over a year.
“The partnership between Firefly and REC is a sterling example of the sixth cooperative principle, cooperation among cooperatives,” said Gary Wood, CEO of CVEC and Firefly.
“REC has been an enthusiastic, energetic partner, and their ability to achieve a remarkable pace of make ready work and fiber placement has resulted in amazing connection numbers in a short time. The speed of deployment in the REC area is only possible due to the coordinated efforts of two committed cooperatives.”
Firefly, now in its sixth year, delivers broadband with symmetrical data upload and download speeds of 100 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second. It has about 33,000 subscribers.
“We take great pride in our ongoing partnership with Firefly, which is delivering remarkable progress in expanding broadband access across five counties,” said John D. Hewa, REC’s president and CEO.
Firefly recently acquired an additional 672 locations within REC service territory under a transfer agreement with another fiber broadband builder that originally had been awarded parts of Madison County through the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.