Multi-million dollar grant awarded for Dickenson County broadband network

GATE CITY, Va. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the Scott County Telephone Cooperative with a $3 million grant to establish a broadband network in a section of Dickenson County, Virginia.

On Wednesday, the USDA awarded $190.5 million in grants and loans to make broadband and other advanced communications infrastructure improvements in rural areas around the country, including in southwest Virginia.

The Scott County Telephone Cooperative has received several multi-million dollar grants from the USDA in recent years to develop broadband networks throughout the region. The co-operative covers Hancock County, Tennessee, Scott County, Virginia, Russell County, Virginia, Wise County, Virginia, and Dickenson County, Virginia.

“This major investment in broadband development will improve daily life for families and businesses, create jobs and help spark economic prosperity in the region,” U.S. Senator Tim Kaine said in a statement.

Kaine recently visited the cooperative’s office in Gate City, Virginia, and spoke with employees and co-op members about its work.

“I was proud to support this project to expand broadband to the Caney Ridge area, and I’m thrilled the USDA recognized its importance to economic development in southwest Virginia,” Kaine said.

The statement said Kaine had written to the Rural Utilities Service in August urging the USDA to award the local cooperative the grant.

The Community Connect grants, which the local cooperative received, are used to establish broadband service in rural areas, which the USDA said boost economic growth and offer educational, health care, social and public safety benefits.

Nearly $14 million was awarded this week as part of the Community Connect grants, which were also awarded to agencies in Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Scott County Telephone Cooperative received the largest grant.

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