Chair of the Loudoun Communications Commission Tim Dennis presented a summary of a consultant’s report on broadband in Western Loudoun at the June 2019 LCPCC meeting.

The report states:

Residents of western Loudoun County have access to a mix of internet and broadband services, but robust broadband services are not uniformly available there—as they are in the more densely populated eastern portion of the County.

Because of the challenging economics of broadband deployment in rural areas, private ISPs will not invest in ubiquitous broadband infrastructure in western Loudoun. And because current federal grant opportunities generally apply only to completely unserved areas, federal funding is not an option for a comprehensive broadband solution, either.

Bringing western Loudoun to parity with eastern Loudoun would thus require the County to invest an estimated $130 million in a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. Absent that investment, though, the County could pursue less costly strategies that might move the needle in important ways—such as through County investment in middle-mile fiber to support ISPs that seek to expand their services.

You can access the report here.