Centre County Selects Two Proposals to Advance for Broadband Expansion Initiative

Centre County’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday selected broadband internet expansion proposals from two companies to advance for state funding applications.

Commissioners approved advancing proposals from Comcast Cable Communications and Centre WISP Venture Company for continued scope-of-work and pre-application negotiations for ARPA Capital Project Funds Broadband Infrastructure Program submissions.

The proposals will be seeking some of the more than $200 million in grants from federal American Rescue Plan Act funding that will be made available statewide for broadband projects through the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority. The county issued a request for proposals in April and received five by the May 25 deadline.

Proposals from Comcast and Centre WISP met six specified criteria, according to Liz Lose, assistant director of planning and community development. They target priority areas identified in the countywide broadband strategic plan; offer a wireline solution aligning with Capital Project Funds guidelines; demonstrate affordable options and participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program; demonstrate experience on past projects and ability to complete projects within timeframes; offer financial viability, including supplemental funding; and the overall scale and scope of the projects along with proposed cost shares for matching funds are open to further negotiations.

Comcast’s proposal is for the area of Curtin and Liberty townships and Rush Township, while Centre WISP’s is for projects in Boggs Township and Penns Valley. In both cases, the companies previously received funding for those areas and the new grants would help to fill in the gaps.

A county broadband study conducted with CTC Technology identified approximately 7,900 addresses that are unserved or underserved by wireline broadband. The strategic plan outline priority areas for expanding broadband, which include those in the two companies’ proposals.

“It’s worth noting that these are projects that really would make a difference for citizens in Centre County if they’re able to move forward,” Commissioner Amber Concepcion said.

Centre County has had success in recent years expanding broadband through projects in Penns Valley and Snow Shoe, Board of Commissioners Chair Mark Higgins said. The proposed projects would bring fiber direct to homes, providing a “very high speed, game-changing level” of service to places that are currently lacking, Board of Commissioners Chair Mark Higgins said.

“You’ll have the same speed that researchers have at Penn State,” Higgins said. “It will be amazing. Your kids can attend school remotely if need be, while somebody else is playing online video games, while somebody else is doing a lot of research and while somebody else is watching Netflix and you won;t even notice a slowdown.”

Lose called the process of developing the RFP and evaluating proposals to ensure they meet state funding criteria “probably the most complex project” she has managed in 20 years with county government.

“When we looked at these projects internally and the proposals we wanted to make sure that they were targeting those areas that needed the high-speed internet but we didn’t want to have a degree of overlap between these proposals either,” Lose said. “So that’s where we want to go back, do some more talking and negotiations, and make sure that the final scope of these projects fits to those areas.”

Proposals selected for grant funding will require a 25% local match, and how that would be shared by the county and companies is still to be negotiated.

The typical timeframe for completing the projects is about two years, Lose said. Once awarded funding from the state in the early fall, projects must be 75% complete by Dec. 31, 2026, and Lose noted that the state will have reporting requirements in place and penalties will be imposed if a project is not finished.

The three commissioners commended Lose for shepherding the effort through a highly technical process in a short timeframe.

Commissioner Steve Dershem said he appreciated the scrutiny in narrowing the projects, noting that with 67 counties potentially going after $200 million, the county needs to be selective in what it puts forward. With a July 10 application deadline, getting to the table early also is important, he added.

“Hopefully this is successful because this is a really big deal, and I think it’s kind of a precursor for more money that’s coming down the road for other broadband projects that hopefully we can expand upon from this point,” Dershem said.