USDA Community Connect Broadband Grant Announcement

October 20, 2008

Trammel, Virginia

          I am pleased to return to Dickenson County today to announce another major success in our effort to expand high speed Internet access in Southwest Virginia.  At my urging, and effective today, the Rural Utilities Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture is awarding a grant in the amount of $549,890 to Almega Cable to provide high speed Internet service to 400 residents in the community of Trammel.

          For the last few years, I have hosted a series of workshops to inform local governments and Internet Service Providers of the federal funding programs available for the construction of broadband networks.  As a result of these workshops, communities throughout the Ninth District have been successful in seeking highly competitive grant funds to build high-speed networks which are providing service to areas that traditional telecommunication providers have ignored.

          This year, I set a goal in my office that the Ninth Congressional District have more grant applications submitted to USDA than any other Congressional District in the Nation.  Almega Cable joined my challenge, and I am pleased to report that the Ninth Congressional District is receiving more broadband grants than any other Congressional district or state in the nation. 

          Residents in the Trammel community of Dickenson County currently have no access to high speed broadband services.  Rather, local residents are reliant on much slower methods of accessing the Internet to conduct business or for personal use.

          With the federal funding I am announcing today, residents in the Trammel community will gain access to high speed Internet service via a cable modem termination system.  In addition, a space in the Trammel Community Center will be renovated to serve as a Community Access Center.  To complete the project, Almega Cable is providing a match of $106,220 in staffing the computer access center, acquiring the necessary bandwidth, and offering computer training classes at the community center.

          The Center will include 10 new computer workstations outfitted with the latest computer equipment.  The Community Access Center will provide the high speed Internet services to residents at convenient times.  Classes and seminars will also be offered to local residents to heighten community awareness of the benefits of the new broadband technology.

          Currently, Almega's existing Trammel cable plant consists of approximately eight miles of trunk and distribution cable.  With the federal funding I am announcing today, Almega Cable will upgrade the existing Trammel cable plant with a broadband coaxial network that will provide high speed Internet service with 1.5 megabits per second downstream and 500 kilobits per second upstream.

          Almega Cable hopes to have the Computer Access Center available for use in mid-December, and it will have broadband Internet service available to all Trammel residents by the end of March 2009.

           More than ten years ago, I encouraged local governments throughout the Ninth District to find a means of deploying broadband networks so that affordable high-speed Internet access would be available to businesses and residents throughout our region.  My goal in making this recommendation was to set our region apart in comparison to other rural areas of the nation, to make us more attractive than the typical rural region to industries looking to expand their operations into new locations, and to create technology-based jobs for Southwest Virginians.

          Today, I am pleased to note that many of the communities in our region are making great strides in the deployment of broadband networks, and the announcement I am making today marks another step forward in our efforts.

          Just as first canals, then railroads and then highways were the major arteries of commerce in earlier eras, in the 21^st Century, access to broadband will be a defining feature of economic success for rural communities.  Step by positive step our expanding broadband infrastructure is assuring that Southwest Virginia's communities will be at the center of economic opportunity.

          Thomas Kurien, General Manager of Almega Cable, and Rich Beesmer, Area Manager, are to be commended for their leadership in seeking federal grants funds to improve the services provided by Almega.

          I would like to thank Richard Jenkins, Field Representative for the Rural Utilities Service, who has worked with Almega Cable personnel  and my office on the processing of the funding application. 

          I would also like to express my appreciation to Travis Jackson, Area Manager for Rural Development, who works with my office to ensure that all of the communities in Southwest Virginia receive their fair share of Rural Development funding.

          Finally, I would like to recognize Laura Lee my Deputy Chief of Staff for the work she has performed for this project.  I place a high priority in my office in obtaining successes much like the one we celebrate today, and Laura's work is vital to our efforts to deploy new broadband technology throughout Southwest Virginia.

          The project which is receiving funding is an example of what can be achieved when public officials and private companies work together and cooperate in aid of a common purpose.  For that cooperation and successful work in providing high-speed Internet service for the Trammel community, I want to commend all here and offer special congratulations to the residents who will be receiving this service.