ARC Broadband Project Almost Complete – Citynet Accepting Service Applications

At the August 13^th Pocahontas County Broadband Council meeting, Melissa O’Brien of the ISP Citynet reported regarding the ARC Broadband Project, that Citynet currently has crews in the field collecting data for laterals in order to start permitting. She also reported that the project is proceeding as planned and on target for a December 2026 completion. Citynet is now advertising its availability to accept applications for hook-ups from customers in the project area to receive broadband service. That project area is east from Marlinton to Minnehaha Springs and north to Dunmore.

Cory Nipper of the ARC Project’s engineering company, Thompson and Litton, added that the strands which will support the actual fiber optic lines have now all been installed, and 45 miles of the actual fiber has been strung and is now being tested. Nipper also said that all of the “make ready” utility pole issues they had been dealing with have now been resolved and the needed work on the poles completed.  A change order will be made that will allow them to hook-up fiber in Marlinton.

A substantial completion inspection of the project is scheduled to be done on October 2^nd, with the final payment to be made on November 30^th.

This 2.5-million-dollar project is installing 258,720 linear feet of broadband fiber, to bring high-speed internet access to 1,011 households and 24 businesses in Pocahontas County. It was originally approved on behalf of the Pocahontas County Commission in September of 2021, and is finally about to become a reality.

Regarding the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Broadband project, which was awarded to Citynet in Pocahontas County, Citynet’s final agreements with the state are almost ready to be signed. Once that is done, Citynet will have 4 years to have the infrastructure built to connect broadband to residents who desire it, but who were left out of any other broadband programs or grants. BEAD will be completed by 2030, although some addresses may have it available sooner as the work progresses.

Citynet’s Melissa O’Brien also reported on the Line Extension Advancement and Development (LEAD) program, which is is a West Virginia state grant initiative.  She said that project is proceeding as planned and on target for the required December, 2026 completion. Citynet has started taking orders for LEAD service also.

Regarding communications, Sarah Riley suggested a “story map” of sorts to illustrate the availability of fiber in the county over time. Amanda Smarr stated that Region 4 may be able to put this together pending data availability

Mike Holstine told the council that he will write an article or press release providing general information to the public on the services that Citynet provides as well as to how broadband customers with CityNet can best keep current landline phone service with Frontier if they so desire. Holstine recommends that people consider keeping their landlines for emergency use; however, he warned that Frontier is beginning to pull down some of their copper landlines, and will likely raise their rates a lot for those legacy landlines that they do maintain.