The NetAmerica Alliance has announced that Buggs Island Telephone Cooperative (BIT Communications) has launched 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) service under the NetAmerica Alliance service brand, Bonfire. BIT Communications, which is headquartered in Bracey, Virginia, has rolled out an LTE network which currently consists of nine sites covering Amelia, Brunswick, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg and Nottoway counties.
In 2010 BIT was awarded a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) federal broadband stimulus grant and a Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalisation Commission grant to help construct the wireless broadband network; the grants totalled USD18.9 million. BIT, which was founded in 1951, currently provides wireline, ADSL and wireless broadband connectivity to south central Virginia.
