Hoping to quell complaints about spotty service, Virginia is expanding broadband Internet links for state and local government agencies.
The Virginia Information Technologies Agency is adding about 15 providers, supplementing principal contractor Verizon.
The move means that more agencies will have speedier access to the Internet as well as additional backup should their primary service fail.
Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey said in a written statement today that the new options will include cable-modem, satellite, wireless and fiber service.
"There are unserved areas of the state and there are underserved areas of the state," Deputy Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson said in an interview.
Because Verizon broadband doesn't reach every corner of Virginia, said Jackson, some public workers rely on slower, dial-up access to the Internet.
There was no immediate estimate on the cost of the supplemental broadband service. Price will be driven by technology and region.
Verizon is a subcontractor of Northrop Grumman, hired by the state under a controversial program shifting management of Virginia's computer network to the private sector.
Expanded broadband service was an objective of VITA's departing chief, George F. Coulter, who Gov. Bob McDonnell is replacing with Del. Samuel A. Nixon Jr., R-Chesterfield.
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