Centre County government on Tuesday took a step forward with its efforts to secure funding from Pennsylvania’s share of a major federal program for the expansion of broadband internet access to underserved areas.
The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a letter of financial commitment to provide grant matching funds for Centre WISP’s proposal to expand broadband access in the Penns Valley and Brush Valley areas.
Centre WISP was one of two providers that responded to the county’s request for proposals for projects to apply for funding from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program through the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA). Comcast submitted the other proposal, according to Elizabeth Lose, Centre County assistant director for planning and community development.
Grants from the BEAD program will require a minimum 25% share of the total project cost in matching funds, which is where the county’s support comes in. The financial support letter contingent on grant award and further negotiation.
“Centre WISP and the county will be in further discussions prior to the BEAD application submission to determine particular projects that are a top priority and what grant match support will make for a more competitive application,” Lose said.
Funds to support the local match will come from money set aside from the county American Rescue Plan Act allocation, Commissioner Steve Dershem said.
Pennsylvania was awarded in 2023 more than $1 billion for the BEAD program, part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the largest ever federal investment in broadband internet expansion.
The application period opened on Nov. 22 and closes on Feb. 7.
Responses to Centre County’s RFP, which was issued Sept. 25 and closed on Jan. 3, were evaluated “based on internet technology, affordable service, overall project costs and a project geography which aligns with the priority zones identified in the county’s broadband strategic plan,” Lose said
Centre WISP’s proposal, which Lose said identified 457 locations for service, was selected because it offers fiber internet to premises, has three residential packages that meet or exceed the definition of broadband service and targets a priority zone in the southeastern part of the county.
A countywide broadband study and strategic plan prepared with CTC Technology and issued in January 2023 identified about 8,000 underserved and unserved addresses in three zones — northern, central and eastern —as targets for broadband expansion.
“I was glad to see a proposal come in for this funding round, particularly one that’s looking to serve some really underserved areas of the county,” Commissioner Amber Concepcion said. “It’s been a real challenge over the last couple of years — the timetable for this has kind of dragged longer than we expected and some of the regulations around the funding have been different than we might have expected. It sounds like Centre County, compared to some of the rest of Pennsylvania, has been pretty well prepared to respond to this in terms of having done the study that we did to understand the most strategically important areas of the county that needed broadband funding then working with providers to make sure we have applications going in that we can support.”
Dershem likened the BEAD program and other efforts to expand broadband access to the Rural Electrification program of the 1930s.
“It’s an opportunity for us to provide service to areas that financially don’t make sense, if you will, from a business model, but we do recognize that there is value and making sure some of these underserved areas are provided,” he said, noting that unless they can get satellite internet service, some areas may never otherwise get broadband access without government support.
“This is an opportunity to make that happen and I think it’s pretty exciting to see what we can do with the money we have and provide that service to folks that otherwise may not ever receive internet, and we all realize how valuable that is.”
Lose said she expects the PBDA to announce grant awards in the fall. Companies won’t be required to build out “for another four or five years,” she said, but Centre WISP’s project would move much faster.
“That brings into what I’ve said from the get-go, not only the timing but managing expectations,” Lose said. “At least with Centre WISP proposal we know in the near term in one or two years there’s going to be some activity on the ground from the BEAD.”
She added that this might only be round one of BEAD funding in Pennsylvania, and a second round would allow the county to focus on different kinds of projects for harder to reach areas, such as fixed wireless or low-orbit satellite technology.
Lose couldn’t say with certainty whether the new presidential administration could affect the availability of BEAD funding, but suggested that it seemed unlikely.
“The monies have been committed. They’re now at the state,” she said. “They have been two years in the works putting together a volume 1 and volume 2 strategic plan. So that being said, unless there would be some crazy act of Congress, these monies are directed to be put out into the rural areas where they are needed most.”
