Commissioners hear about progress of broadband project

BELLEFONTE — While broadband internet access for rural areas in Centre County continues to be an uphill battle, progress is being made.

During the May 30 Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting, the commissioners received an update from Liz Lose, the county’s assistant director of planning and community development.

The county had issued a request for proposals on broadband expansion on April 25. The purpose of that, Lose explained, was to “find a project and get a provider lined up.”

At this week’s meeting, Lose revealed five companies that had responded and met the criteria.

“I met with a dozen different companies virtually, offering a different wealth of technology. I was able to answer their questions and give them some feedback on what we were looking for,” Lose explained.

The deadline, she said, was 5 p.m. on May 26. The five companies that responded were: Centre Wisp Venture Company LLC of Centre Hall; All Points Broadband Partners LLC of Richmond, Virginia; Verizon Pennsylvania LLC of Philadelphia; Comcast Cable Communications LLC of Philadelphia; and Pavlov Media of Champaign, Illinois.

“All companies had the required attachments that we had asked of them. Today, we’re going to start the deep dive in coordination with our broadband consultant, CTC Technology, to start to go through these proposals,” Lose said.

She said the proposals are “comprehensive,” averaging between 30 and 40 pages apiece.

“Once we get through those evaluations, we will come back to the board with a recommendation of which project — or perhaps projects — would be feasible in some manner,” Lose said.

Chair Mark Higgins talked about the scope of the project.

“We’ve been working hard on this for years and now it’s finally come to fruition. The broadband expansion RFP revolves around a $200 million state grant,” Higgins noted.

He said that he was pleased to see so many companies stepping up to provide service and solutions.

“It’s great to see that we’ve had such strong interest in providing broadband to our roughly 8,000 residences that are either unserved or drastically underserved throughout the county,” Higgins said.

There are approximately 7,900 addresses throughout Centre County that are either unserved or underserved by broadband internet. Broadband internet access is critical for business and education in the county.

“Having that information has really helped this process to move forward as well as it has — and to do so on some tight deadlines,” said Commissioner Amber Concepcion. “I’m looking forward to seeing this move forward.”

In January, the Federal Communications Commission completed a nationwide survey which asked residents to weigh in on their broadband internet experiences.

Now, it’s time for the next steps.

“Of course we are going to look at affordability. Do these companies offer those kinds of packages for residents? And just kind of the overall vitality and what their experience is,” Lose said.

Commissioner Steve Dershem questioned the wording of the RFP.

“The terminology — contract negotiations — what is our role in this? Are we a pass-through or are we a willing participant in this project? Where do we fit into the matrix of things here?” Dershem asked.

Lose said that the county will be more of a partner.

“The county, at this point, isn’t really in a position to be a pass-through. We’re going to be a partner in this,” Lose said. “What that looks like? We don’t know yet, until we get into those proposals.”

The Centre County Board of Commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 6. That meeting is open to the public and will also be televised live by C-NET.