Dominion Energy’s ability to offer middle-mile services came as a part of 2019 legislation enabling investor-owned utilities in the state to lease excess fiber capacity to ISPs, resulting in a win-win for the company, the state, and the citizens of rural communities which didn’t have an affordable way to get high-speed broadband.

“The unserved areas across Virginia, and really across United States, look a lot like Swiss cheese,” said Ed Diggs, Rural Broadband Manager, Dominion Energy. “You have pockets of served in unserved areas, the point being it was too costly for any one provider to come in and close those larger unserved areas by themselves. The thought was, ‘Why not leverage utility companies which already have the power lines and rights of way in place?’ We could come in, build our fiber for our utility network, and then lease out some of that excess fiber to willing ISP companies.”

Under the 2019 legislation, Dominion Energy conducted pilot programs in Surry County and the Northern Neck of Virginia and is now transitioning to wider operations across the state, with involvement continuing to grow as other localities heard about the program and wanted to secure their own middle-mile access.

“We’ve got close to 30 different counties and jurisdictions involved,” said Diggs. “By having a middle-mile partner with Dominion, they can focus on being last mile providers. We’re forecasting to build close to 3,000 miles as part of the Virginia broadband initiative, using a portion of that fiber to communicate along our electric distribution infrastructure with our major devices. More importantly it’s allowing our ISP partners to close the gap and serve the unserved areas in Virginia where otherwise the economics didn’t make sense and they couldn’t afford to do it by themselves.”

Dominion Energy started its middle-mile efforts with a single person (Diggs) in 2019. It now has 30 internal employees dedicated to its middle-mile effort, working with hundreds of vendors to research, design, and build out its network at a rate that Diggs described as “very fast, a very compressed timeline.” 

Given Dominion’s status as a regulated utility operating in the state of Virginia, each fiber build must be approved by the State Corporation Commission. The first petition to build 500 miles of fiber took place in 2022 with this year’s petition adding almost 1,900 miles. A few more counties are expected to file petitions in 2024 to continue to increase the size of the network. 

Internet service providers are leasing the dark fiber from Dominion and provide the electronics necessary to connect and light it, with the leasing costs being used to offset the construction build and other overhead costs to maintain and repair it. Most of the fiber is aerial deployed and is being installed in such a way to minimize any make ready costs. 

Any excess capacity not used by the ISP or Dominion could be available for other parties. “There’s no provision to say we can’t lease any excess fiber to other broadband providers, whether they’re cellular providers or another ISP company on the back end once we’ve met the unserved obligations with our ISP partner,” said Diggs.

UIA secured the latest round of funding in partnership with Lewis Young Robertson & Burningham, Inc. (Financial Advisor), KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc. (Senior Managing Underwriter), and Gilmore & Bell (Bond and Disclosure Counsel). Since 2011, the majority of UTOPIA Fiber’s growth has come from its synergistic relationship with UIA, designing, financing, building, and operating state-of-the-art ultra-high-speed fiber-broadband networks, firmly securing its position as the largest publicly-owned Open Access fiber network in the United States.

“What we’re seeing with this latest round of funding is stronger-than-ever demand for high-speed fiber networks,” said Roger Timmerman, UTOPIA Fiber’s executive director. “The $52.5 million provides the capital to build out the remaining areas of our original 11 cities and to add customers throughout our coverage area. We continue to have the best partners in the business, who have worked tirelessly to get us to this point,” he added.

UTOPIA Fiber provides fiber-to-the-home services in 15 cities and business services in 50. They serve as operational parter for Idaho Falls Fiber in Idaho and are in talks with additional municipalities to bring the network to their communities. UTOPIA Fiber is available to 130,000 homes and businesses, offers the fastest internet speeds in the United States (10 Gbps residential and 100 Gbps commercial), and enjoys being ranked as the highest-rated internet option in Utah.

This round of new funding is the largest that UIA has closed on in agency history and the third in the last 14 months ($48 million in November 2019 and $13 million in August 2020). UTOPIA Fiber continues to bring competitive services from 14 internet service providers (ISPs) at the fastest speeds and best value.

UTOPIA Fiber’s Open Access model enables communities to have access to a free and open internet without throttling, paid prioritization, or other provider interference. Participating cities can also benefit from various Smart City applications that are enabled by the UTOPIA Fiber network including early wildfire detection systems, free public WiFi, Smart water and energy management, and air pollution monitoring services.

“The pandemic has shown us just how important fast, affordable, and reliable broadband service is. We believe publicly-owned Open Access fiber networks are the future of American internet connectivity and are excited to be at the forefront of that movement,” Timmerman said.

The public is invited to visit UTOPIAfiber.com for service maps, build-out timelines, and information on how to sign up for UTOPIA Fiber services.

About UTOPIA Fiber

Created by a group of Utah cities, the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a community-owned fiber-optic network that uses the Open Access model to promote competition by giving customers the freedom to choose which telecommunication services they want. With fiber availability to over 130,000 businesses and residences in over 50 communities, UTOPIA Fiber is the largest and most-successful Open Access network in the United States, and enjoys the industry’s highest customer satisfaction scores. Since 2009, the agency has successfully designed, built, and operated over $250 million worth of fiber projects throughout Utah, all of which have been funded completely through subscriber revenue, at no cost to taxpayers.

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