CanAm Enterprises' Rural Broadband EB-5 Project to Expand Internet Connectivity in Virginia
CanAm Enterprises announced today that its latest EB-5 offering is an $80 million project to support the deployment of broadband service to residents, businesses and other customers within a seven-county rural area of Virginia who are currently not connected to high-speed internet service. The CanAm offering meets the new set-aside category criteria of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of...
CanAm Enterprises announced today that its latest EB-5 offering is an $80 million project to support the deployment of broadband service to residents, businesses and other customers within a seven-county rural area of Virginia who are currently not connected to high-speed internet service. The CanAm offering meets the new set-aside category criteria of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 for a "Rural project" which entitles EB-5 immigrant investors to priority visa processing. The development sponsor is All Points Broadband (APB), whose full project encompasses a $576 million Accelerated Fiber Deployment Initiative to connect 80,000 unserved residences and businesses in 19 Virginia counties to high-speed internet service. APB is wholly-owned by Searchlight Capital Partners, a private equity firm with extensive expertise investing in the global telecommunications and media sectors.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, approximately 14.5 million Americans still lack internet access in communities across the country. Public policymakers at every level of government have enacted funding support to stimulate public/private investment to close this digital divide, including $65 billion in federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Commonwealth of Virginia has been leading this effort within the U.S., having identified and prioritized a campaign to bring near-universal broadband access across the state by 2030.