The nDanville project was initiated in 2004 and divided into a three-phase approach. Phase I of the project involved overbuilding the electric utilities system with high count fiber optic cables in order to serve ourselves and the needs of the Danville Public Schools. The City and Danville Public Schools needed to improve communications between facilities quickly for current and future applications. In order to pay for the initial build-out of 75+- miles of fiber optic cabling, the City utilized E-Rate revenues from gigabit services provided to the Danville Public Schools.

Once nDanville had a stable foundation and a solid record of providing high bandwidth speeds, City Council authorized the move into “Phase II - Fiber to the Business” in 2007. This part of the project enabled Danville to market itself as a high-tech region with speeds comparable or better than other large metropolitan areas. Part of the success of bringing the White Mill project to fruition was attributed to having a high speed fiber optic network built and providing services. To date, nDanville is providing service to 75 area businesses using its open access model of allowing service provides to make use of our fiber optic network for rev¬enue split of their gross earnings. This method has proven to be advantageous to both the City and participating service providers. The revenue generated from both Phase I & II can be reinvested in the fiber optic network to expand and provide additional services.

Currently, Danville Utilities is proposing to move in a pilot project fashion into the final phase of nDanville, described as “Phase III - Fiber to the Home.” This will involve extending current fiber optic infrastructure to approximately 2,000-3,000 homes inside the City limits. The Averett community has been identified as the first targeted neighborhood of approximately 1,200+- homes covering a demographically diverse area. A second similarly sized neighborhood within the City will be identified as part of this pilot residential deployment. This infrastructure will provide fiber optic capability for any contracting service provider to bring state of the art telecommunications, entertainment, and internet services to our customers.

City Council will be voting on whether to proceed with the fiber to the home project on July 6th during their work session. The Danville Utility Commission has already provided their recommendation to City Council to proceed with the project. This project would be funded without any taxpayer or utility ratepayer revenue and is self sufficient by using existing telecommunication revenues from current nDanville connections. These meetings are open to the public so feel free to attend and show your support for the expansion of nDanville!