South Hampton Roads residents who have waited years for fiber internet could be getting the service courtesy of a competing provider.
Lumos, a Waynesboro-based high-speed internet provider, plans to spend $83 million to install fiber in parts of Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Portsmouth. The coverage area will reach almost 85,000 residents and businesses in Hampton Roads, according to a July 21 announcement.
“These communities are going to get fiber for the first time, and it’s a transformative experience,” Lumos Chief Customer Officer Jay Winn said.
The company likes to expand in areas without competing fiber providers, so parts of Hampton Roads not covered by the Verizon Fios network made sense, Winn said. Lumos will be laying more than 760 miles of network in a mishmash of locations in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Portsmouth.
In Portsmouth, Winn said the company will focus on areas south of the Elizabeth River that lack access to fiber. In Chesapeake, it’s Deep Creek North, Deep Creek South, South Norfolk and along the northern end of Great Bridge Boulevard.
Lastly, in Virginia Beach, the company will install a network in parts of Pungo, Sandbridge, Sigma, North Virginia Beach and along Nimmo Parkway, Salem Road and Lynnhaven Parkway.
Notably, the service won’t go to places with Fios or to Norfolk, where Metronet is installing its own fiber service. Mayor Kenny Alexander announced Metronet’s plans in April 2021 during the State of the City address. Construction began in early 2022 near the Five Points intersection, and is progressing in several neighborhoods, according to a construction progress website.
The Lumos service costs will depend on the internet speed, Winn said. For 500 megabits a second, costs will run around $50 a month. A gigabit a second will run around $60-80 a month, and 2 gigabits a second costs around $100 monthly.
The advantage of fiber, compared with cable, is the technology has a higher capacity of 100 gigabits a second, Winn said. So, the service is relatively future-proof.
Lumos construction is expected to begin in 2023, and it will take about two years to build out the network, Winn said.
