Regional Broadband Authority Sets Rates and Plans to Sign First Customers

The first businesses to take advantage of the new regional fiber network will come online in the coming weeks.
 

The Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority plans to sign its first customers to the new 50-mile regional network in April after setting rates for services last week. The regional broadband authority offers fiber-based, business-class service. The bandwidth offered through the Authority’s services is exclusive to the end user and is ideal for institutions and businesses that must move large volumes of data reliably.  
 

The authority will also allow customers to lease dark fiber. Dark fiber is unlit fiber strands which allow clients that wish to install their own electronics to light their own dedicated fiber strands leased from the authority. Approximately 25 percent of the regional network is devoted to dark fiber, which has been available in only limited areas of the region.  
 

The regional authority’s services add to a diverse set of regional telecom and fiber-based communications services. The authority’s offerings provide access to dedicated bandwidth and even dark fiber services in areas of the region where such services were not available before. This new regional fiber network will be an asset for burgeoning technology businesses.
 

The completion and lighting of the network in April will be a major milestone for a new regional cooperative program. The authority was created in 2013 by the Counties of Botetourt and Roanoke and the Cities of Roanoke and Salem. The authority was a direct result of both public and private efforts to better understand and to advocate for more fiber-based broadband services.