The company at the center of Southside Virginia’s most delayed rural fiber projects has filed for bankruptcy. On 21-Oct-2026, RiverStreet Networks filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, three months after the state broadband office removed it from all of its state-funded contracts. A week later, the replacement contractor in Henry, Franklin and Patrick counties told local officials it is ready to build.
What the bankruptcy filing says
RiverStreet has signed an asset purchase agreement with funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, structured as a court-supervised sale that other qualified bidders can top. Existing lender CoBank committed about $20 million in new financing to keep operations running during the case. The company says customers it already serves should not see changes to service or support, and that it plans to finish builds that are nearly complete while handing some unfinished expansion projects to other providers.
Cardinal News reported that RiverStreet had left more than 30,000 rural locations unconnected when the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development pulled its contracts in July 2026. On the West Broadband Project in Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties, only 40 of 14,547 planned locations were connected. A separate six-county project covering Amelia, Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Nottoway and Pittsylvania reached about 35% of 27,997 planned locations. Office of Broadband Director Chandler Vaughan called the filing a disappointment, and the state is working with legal counsel and the attorney general’s office to recover public money paid to the company.
ZiTEL gears up in Henry, Franklin and Patrick counties
ZiTEL, the Bedford County-based provider that took over the West Broadband Project in August, briefed the Henry County Board of Supervisors on 27-Oct-2026. According to the Martinsville Bulletin, the company has about 26 crews lined up and materials on order, with most work going underground and some reliance on leased fiber on Appalachian Power poles. In Henry County, 3,467 locations are eligible: 3,100 in a 2022 phase due for substantial completion by 30-Jun-2027 and 367 in a 2023 phase due by 31-Dec-2027. ZiTEL identified 810 Henry County locations close to existing fiber that could be connected before the end of 2026. Henry County said the switch requires no new local tax or grant commitments.
ZiTEL is also finishing RiverStreet’s former work in Bedford County and is a finalist for Pittsylvania and Campbell. Amelia, Campbell, Charlotte, Nottoway and Pittsylvania have not yet finalized a new provider.
What this means if you live in Virginia
If you already have RiverStreet service, it should continue while the bankruptcy plays out, though the company could end up under new ownership. If you were promised fiber in Henry, Franklin or Patrick County, construction is restarting, but the 2027 dates are grant deadlines, not guaranteed install dates for your address, and ZiTEL has said not every location may be finished by them. In the five counties still without a replacement contractor, there is no new timeline yet. Until fiber reaches you, the practical options are usually DSL where it exists, T-Mobile home internet where coverage allows, or satellite from Starlink or HughesNet.
Sources
- Cardinal News: RiverStreet Networks, which lost its contracts to deploy broadband in multiple Virginia localities, files for bankruptcy (22-Oct-2026)
- Broadband Breakfast: Rural Broadband Provider RiverStreet Files for Bankruptcy, Agrees to Sell Assets to Oaktree (22-Oct-2026)
- Martinsville Bulletin via Government Technology: Long-Delayed Three-County Virginia Broadband Build Gears Up (03-Nov-2026)