Floyd, Virginia has long been known for its arts scene, particularly live music.  But residents, businesses, and visitors also know the rural mountain town offers something they may not see elsewhere–internet that’s as good or better than what they’ve used in many densely populated cities.

Citizens Telephone Cooperative has served Floyd County since 1914, and has kept up to date with technology, providing broadband since 2001.  But CEO and General Manager Greg Sapp says the laying of fiber optic cable at 1G speed, or one gigabit per second, will far exceed what many are used to, even for larger cities in the area.

“We want our customers to experience no penalty for living in a rural area when it comes to their technology and telecommunications needs,” said Sapp, who says Citizens already holds an advantage since it’s not a publicly traded company, concerned with short-term profits.

“If this was a project that we said ‘ok, we’ve got to have a payback period of two years on this – it would never happen,” he said. “It would never get done.”

Citizens Telephone is taking advantage of $10-million in federal funds through the Alternative Connect America Model, which lets the company get some help in its buildout of fiber optic lines.

The 1G broadband connections have reaped benefits not only for residents and local business, but also education.

To learn more, check out the whole article below.

https://www.wvtf.org/post/rural-floyd-enjoys-flash-high-speed-internet#stream/0