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November 19, 2025
STEPHENS CITY — Rural broadband internet service provider All Points Broadband (APB), along with representatives from the Virginia Office of Broadband and Frederick County government, on Tuesday celebrated the launch of a construction project that will provide fiber-to-the-home broadband internet access to more than 4,000 homes and businesses in the county that don’t have it.
The years-long regional project has now started work in Frederick County.
In 2021, the Board of Supervisors signed a memorandum of understanding with APB and regional utility companies to join the regional project to bring fiber internet to unserved areas. The other counties participating in the project include Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and Warren.
Later that same year, the project received a $95.3 million Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) grant, with the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission acting as fiscal agent. The project is funded through a public-private partnership between APB, Frederick County, and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Virginia Telecommunications Initiative.
APB Vice President of Development Tom Innes said that the target completion time of next September looks achievable, as 20 crews are currently working on the project throughout the county.
“We’re off to a good start, so September 2026 is pretty close to completion,” Innes said.
As for the numbers of the split in funding between the project’s private and public partners, Innes clarified that the initial capital expenses are funded by APB. After the fiber is installed, APB will accept reimbursement payments from the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission when they hit certain milestones.
“The majority is funded by the largest single funder, [which] is the private sector. And then the public side will reimburse us once we reach certain milestones,” Innes said. “So the next time we get to ask for reimbursement is when the fiber that we’re putting in today is lit, and it’s making service available to customers.”
In addition to that funding, Virginia Office of Broadband Associate Director Chandler Vaughan also announced that the federal government has awarded the state with $545 million in federal grants from the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program to provide fiber broadband access to an additional 85,000 locations in the state not covered by the initial VATI grant. Vaughan provided the data on how this BEAD money will eventually flow to Frederick County.
“Frederick County under BEAD, in addition to this current project, will [get] about 4,000 additional homes and a little over $57 million in federal funding that’s coming into Frederick County,” Vaughan said.
The BEAD project, however, is years away from completion and is on a different timeline. Vaughan also touched on some of the benefits of expanding local broadband access, such as farmers being able to use the internet to increase productivity, along with keeping business expenses down.
“[It] also [will] reduce operating expenses in things like small business[es] and entrepreneurs, more young people are gonna now be able to stay in Frederick County,” Vaughan said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman John Jewell remembered when the project was first mentioned back in 2022, when he was on the Planning Commission. He is most looking forward to students getting internet access at home.
“I mean you go into schools now, you look [around], all these kids have Chromebooks and stuff,” Jewell said. “So now… they’re going to be able to work at their kitchen table instead of having to go to the library.”
If you live in Frederick County and would like to see if you qualify for one of these fiber drops, visit apbfiber.com to learn more.
