RiverStreet Communications of Virginia, Inc., is the big winner of federal funding to provide universal broadband in Gloucester and Mathews counties under Virginia’s Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment plan.
RiverStreet was awarded funding to serve 2,528 sites in Gloucester and 915 sites in Mathews, according to a spreadsheet showing all awards across the state. Other companies that were awarded funding to provide services were Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services—28 sites each in Gloucester and Mathews, and SpaceX—one site each in Gloucester and Mathews. Additionally, two sites in Mathews were awarded to Cogeco US LLC (doing business as Breezeline).
Verizon Virginia, which had long been working with the Mathews Broadband Advisory Board on a plan for the county and which had applied for the BEAD funding to complete it, received no funding for either county.
The final plan for BEAD funding across the state was announced last week by Gov. Glenn Younkgin, who said in a press release that the state had gotten final approval of its plan from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Agency.
The total BEAD award was $545 million to 23 internet service providers, said the release. The grant funds will leverage $430 million in private money to provide service to the last remaining 133,000 unserved homes in the state.
According to its website, RiverStreet Communications is a subsidiary of the Wilkesboro, North Carolina-based Wilks Telephone Membership Corporation that has been providing telecommunication services in rural communities for over 70 years. The offerings listed on its website are phone, internet, streaming TV, business solutions, security, and RiverStreet Productions.
RiverStreet has been building fiber facilities in 14 Virginia counties, as well. Most are located in the south-central and southwest parts of the state, but the company has expanded into King and Queen County, as well, with a $22 million project between 2019 and 2023 that provided fiber-to-home along 575 route miles at 4,236 locations.
The company was awarded $44 million to provide broadband to a total of 9,799 locations across Virginia. The subgrantee match for the grant funds will be $21 million.
Extensive information regarding the BEAD funding is available online at dhcd.virginia.gov/bead.
A map showing the precise location of every site awarded to each of the internet providers across the state is available at dhcd.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/DocX/bead/BOB_Winners_20251105.html.