Broadband rollout continues
Internet access is now available in four Beaver County communities that previously had gone without it, marking the start of a new phase in getting every home and business in the county online.
At a news conference Friday, Beaver County officials announced that broadband service had been extended to more than 200 sites in Big Beaver Borough and South Beaver, Darlington and Hanover townships, which were among two dozen municipalities identified as high priority for service in a 2021 study because they had no connection. A total of 204 new sites now have access to a broadband hookup and more than 1,800 more locations will be able to log on by the end of 2026 in a phase of a project that’s just getting underway.
“We have never had a less controversial, more positive and consequential initiative affecting the quality of life of our residents and families than Connect Beaver County,” Commissioner Jack Manning said. “This has been a significant and impactful undertaking.”
County officials across Pennsylvania are focusing on getting internet service to every resident in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns four years ago that forced the need for remote learning, commerce and health care. The Beaver County milestone comes as a new report found that advanced telecommunications capability was not reaching people living in rural areas in a “reasonable and timely fashion,” according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Broadband access had not reached some 24 million Americans, including 28% living in rural areas, as of December 2022, the latest data available, according to the FCC.
“Our goal is to connect
everyone, everywhere to high-speed broadband,” FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in a March 18 letter supporting the findings. “But the last fully vetted and validated annual data before this agency shows conclusively that we are not there yet.”
As of Dec. 31, 2022, 2.7 million Pennsylvania households had internet speeds that were slower than the FCC minimum standard, according to the FCC.
As internet access expands in the region, nearly 23 million low-income Americans, including 759,488 Pennsylvanians, will lose a $30 monthly FCC subsidy by the end of May, which makes getting online possible. Congress has not renewed funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which funds the subsidy.
ACP generates nearly $2 in employment, health care and shopping benefits to the consumer for every $1 it costs, according to a new study by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, a consultant based in Wilmette, Ind.
With completion of the four municipalities, Beaver County is turning to bringing high-speed fiber optic broadband service to the remaining priority areas in the county. The commissioners earmarked $11.9 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money for the work, which will bring service to more than 1,800 additional homes by 2026.
Big Beaver Borough and Brighton, Center and Chippewa townships are among the new areas that will be connected.
Verizon Communications Inc. received a competitively awarded contract to partner with the county in the new expansion. The telecommunications giant will put up $12.3 million in matching funds for the work.
Elsewhere, Verizon, which is partnering with Westmoreland County, is expected to soon start a project that will bring the internet to 400 sites in Derry, Fairfield and Ligonier townships as part of a $3.5 million project, said Daniel Carpenter, deputy director, county Department of Planning and Development. The municipalities were cited as high priority by the county and Verizon will be picking up $1.8 million of the total cost.
In Washington County, officials are simultaneously working with five internet service providers in stretching 111 miles of fiber optic cable in rural areas to reach 970 unserved homes and businesses, said John Timney, executive director, Washington County Authority.
Like other southwestern Pennsylvania counties, Washington is spending American Rescue Plan dollars for the expansion work. Funding will also become available for counties next year from the $42.4 billion Broadband Equity Access & Deployment Program.
Pennsylvania’s share of the funding will be $1.16 billion.
“House by house, we’re trying to tackle almost 9,000 homes a chunk at a time,” Mr. Timney said. “It’s all about knocking down one at a time.”