Two Firms Seek Federal Help for Internet in Western Loudoun

The growing number of Internet users in western Loudoun County has been slowing connections on laptops and smartphones, technology experts say.

Busy wireless networks are bogging down the telecommunication towers, said Marty Dougherty, chief executive of Roadstar Internet, a Leesburg-based high-speed Internet service provider.

Greater Internet capacity is needed "now with the advent of YouTube and iTunes and everything that people are using the Internet for," he said.

"The old feeds that came into those towers are nowhere near adequate," Dougherty said. "At some point, you reach a wall."

Dougherty said he hopes to tear down that wall in an effort to boost Internet speed and reliability. His company teamed up with NOVEC Solutions and has applied for a federal stimulus grant to expand broadband service in western Loudoun.

NOVEC, a Manassas company, is a builder of fiber-optic networks.

The companies hope to get a piece of $7.1 billion in federal grants available through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture.

Under their proposal, Roadstar and NOVEC would form a corporation to build a 37-mile fiber-optic network from Leesburg west to Round Hill and north to Lovettsville.

The network would also pass through more than a dozen public institutions in western Loudoun, including high schools and middle schools, public safety centers and town government offices.

In their proposal, Roadstar and NOVEC say they would provide the public sites with free Internet service for 10 years. The grant guidelines require that the federal government keeps the rights to the fiber-optic equipment for a decade.

The project would cost about $3.75 million, of which 10 percent would be paid by the companies and the rest would be covered through the grant.

Michael Dailey, president of NOVEC Solutions, said grant funding is the best option to expand broadband service in western Loudoun, which is a rural, residential area.