Ntelos has announced that several neighborhoods in the Alleghany Highlands will be launched for fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband, digital voice and fiber-optic TV services March 21.
The neighborhoods are: Edgemont, Parrish Court, Idlewilde, Woodfield, Rayon View, Fort Carpenter, Pitzer Ridge Road, Wildwood, Indian Valley and Cherokee Subdivision.
Additional neighborhoods will be launched in April and the coming months. The la-unches follow extensive fiber-optic testing in the area.
The neighborhoods are the first of many to benefit from a $16 million federal broadband stimulus awarded last year to the Alleghany Highlands.
The award, which required Ntelos to match an $8 million federal grant, enables nTelos to build a “future proof” fiber-optic network to serve the needs of Alleghany Highlands citizens.
Ntelos received the federal stimulus award from the Rural Utilities Service 50/50 program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The service area is comprised of a majority of Alleghany County, Virginia, minus the city of Covington and the towns of Clifton Forge and Iron Gate, which are already classified as “served” by the federal stimulus guidelines.
The service area will reach a population of almost 9,200 residents in an estimated 4,216 households.
While a portion of these households already have access to broadband services, the new high-speed fiber-based services provided with this $16 million initiative will enable more cost-effective and secure communications, including vi-deo (TV) and non-Internet data services using fiber to the home (FTTH) technology.
The tremendous bandwidth capacity of the proposed last-mile fiber network will be able to support future high-bandwidth applications and services for decades to come.
Residents and businesses are invited to contact the Ntelos store at 342 North Court Avenue in Covington or sales representatives at 800-262-2200 to order fiber-optic broadband and TV or to obtain more information about when the services will be available in their areas.
The Court Avenue store will celebrate the neighborhood releases on Thursday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the public is invited.