Giles County submits application for broadband funding
GILES COUNTY, Va. – Giles County is making efforts to make high-speed Internet available across the whole county.
In order to broaden residents’ access to broadband internet, the county has put in an application for more than $34 million in funding from the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative.
There are now more than 5,000 households in Giles County that do not have access to broadband internet. The county would want to change that.
The application that was submitted by the county has been contested by Suddenlink, which is one of the internet service providers that the county uses.
“I think the whole country is trying to provide broadband into the home we saw during the pandemic, the need for having access to Internet, whether it’s for education or now for shopping or, you know, all the other needs eventually, certainly, telemedicine,” Giles County Administrator Chris McKlarney said.
The county is asking people facing issues with Suddenlink’s service to fill out a survey on its website.