Comcast Rural Expansion to Bring Wide Range of Internet Options from Internet Essentials for Low-Income Households to Gigabit Speeds; Full Suite of Xfinity TV, Mobile, Landline Phone and Home Security Products and Services; and Comcast Business Services
Buckingham County, VA – Senator Mark Peake and Delegate Matt Fariss announced today that Comcast will begin a network expansion project this year to extend broadband service to more than 1,800 addresses in Buckingham County.
In addition to Gigabit internet service, residential customers in the county will have access to all Xfinity services, including the award-winning Xfinity X1 video platform, Xfinity Home, Xfinity Voice and Xfinity Mobile. Businesses in these areas will be able to select from the full suite of Comcast Business products and services, including Ethernet network speeds up to 100 Gigabits-per-second. Comcast expects to begin to connect these new services by the end of the year.
“This is great news for my friends in Buckingham and I thank Comcast for their initiative. Access to the internet is no longer a nicety; it is a necessity. We absolutely depend on it for communication, education, awareness, commerce, and entertainment. It has become an important part of the Commonwealth’s infrastructure and nowhere is that infrastructure weaker than in our more rural areas,” said Senator Peake. “That’s why I introduced legislation this past session that removed serious legal obstacles to providing internet in rural Virginia, in order that commercial entities could pursue all viable alternatives in providing internet service to rural areas of the state. That Bill passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support and I consider it one of the more important pieces of legislation that I have championed. It is my earnest desire that this effort on the part of Comcast will be the first of many such initiatives that are now feasible and will result in broadband internet access in every home in the rural 22nd District.”
Comcast has invested billions of dollars in its Virginia network to meet consumer demand, providing among the fastest, most reliable internet speeds over its fiber-rich network, and one of the fastest in-home WiFi experiences. Comcast will also offer Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program, providing low-cost broadband service, digital literacy training and discounted computers — the program has connected more than eight million Americans since its inception in 2011.
Delegate Matt Fariss added, “I want to thank Comcast for taking the initiative to bring broadband internet service to the most rural parts of the 59th District in Buckingham County. I am very excited to see the innovative Internet Essentials program in place, as it is imperative to be able to help our neighbors who may lack resources to keep their homes connected. Being connected is not a luxury, it is critical to the infrastructure of our homes and businesses, and Comcast is helping to make that a reality for our area.”
“This expansion into Buckingham is great news for all the folks who live there,” said Evan Feinman, Executive Director, Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. “Comcast is a critically important partner in realizing the Governor’s goal of universal coverage, and this announcement brings the Commonwealth 1,800 connections closer to making that goal reality.”
“We are proud to invest further in Virginia to bring our services to unserved areas of Buckingham County and connect more residents and businesses in need of broadband,” said Mary McLaughlin, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Beltway Region. “Technology is a powerful driver of innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth, and we’re committed to helping individuals and communities fully participate in the digital economy and use media and technology for positive impact.”
Similar Comcast expansions are expected in portions of Virginia in the coming months, passing thousands of additional rural addresses. These are the latest in a series of investments Comcast has made over the last few years to extend broadband internet to more than 10,000 addresses in unserved areas of the Commonwealth.
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