Many of the community anchor institutions in the rural seven-county New River Valley region of Virginia are unable to access high-speed, affordable broadband services. To help address this problem, Citizens Telephone Co-Operative proposes to construct 186 miles of new fiber to expand and enhance their existing network through its New River Valley Regional Open Access Network project. The project proposes to deploy the new fiber in Wythe, Pulaski, Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke, and Botetourt counties, significant portions of which are economically distressed. Citizens Telephone plans to enhance services for state and local emergency services providers while connecting both campuses of the New River Community College as well as four public school systems.