Broadband necessity assessment expands

Westmoreland County is joining other counties in the region in assessing broadband needs for residents and businesses with an eye toward acquiring federal grant funding to help pay for service expansion.

Westmoreland County Commissioners have contracted with Downtown-based Michael Baker International for $600,000 to identify areas without adequate internet access, develop a broadband plan for the county, and partnerships with private companies to expand service.

The contract is for one year. Funding will come from the American Rescue Plan Act. The county has the option of extending the contract up to five years, according to Jason Rigone, director of the Westmoreland County Department of Planning and Development.

Michael Baker also is helping Washington, Beaver and other counties assess broadband needs, identifying areas of slow or no service.

Some 36,000 homes and 15,000 businesses in Pittsburgh and the surrounding 10-county region were underserved or unserved by broadband while 12% of the population relied on cellphones for internet access, according to a study issued in April by a Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission-led coalition of nonprofits. Some connection speeds were slower than the federal government’s definition of high speed broadband.

The Westmoreland County study will help determine the federal grant money available to increase download/upload connectivity speeds to 100/20 megabits per second, much faster than the 25/3 megabit per second speed the Federal Communications Commission now uses to define highspeed broadband.

In addition to American Rescue Plan funds, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was passed in 2021 makes available some $65 billion for broadband installation and expansion, with priority given to poorly served areas.