logo
Weather page
GET THE APP
ePaper
google_play
app_store
  • Login
  • E-Edition
  • News
  • Sports
  • Obituaries
  • Opinion
  • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • All Listings
    • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Photo Gallery
  • Contests
  • Lifestyle/Entertainment
  • Games
    • News
      • Local News
      • PA State News
      • Nation/World
    • Sports
      • Local
      • College Sports
      • State
      • National
    • Obituaries
    • Opinion
      • News
        • Local News
        • PA State News
        • Nation/World
      • Sports
        • Local
        • College Sports
        • State
        • National
      • Obituaries
      • Opinion
    logo
    • Classifieds
      • Place an Ad
      • All Listings
      • Jobs
    • E-Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Login
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • All Listings
        • Jobs
      • E-Edition
      • Subscribe
      • Login
    Home Opinion Rural Pa. needs more access to high-speed broadband
    Rural Pa. needs more access to high-speed broadband
    Opinion, Сolumns
    January 20, 2021

    Rural Pa. needs more access to high-speed broadband

    Late last year, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed two pieces of legislation that will help deploy broadband to our state’s rural areas.

    Act 98 of 2020 relaxed restrictions on the ability of Pennsylvania electric cooperatives, cable companies and other entities to attach broadband units to existing utility poles. Act 132 of 2020 provided about $5 million in funding for nongovernmental groups to install broadband across underserved areas of Pennsylvania.

    We can all agree that this is good news for our rural communities and residents, many of whom are without high-speed broadband internet service. But more still needs to be done to ensure that this essential service is available, and affordable, for all of our rural residents.

    Since the early 2000s, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania has been documenting and reporting the need for broadband service in our rural areas. Recently, in 2018, the Center’s board of directors hosted a public hearing in Wellsboro to gather information from broadband service providers and consumers about the issues, challenges, and opportunities for delivering broadband services in rural Pennsylvania.

    At the Wellsboro hearing, we were told many times that broadband access meant so much more than interactive gaming or connecting with family and friends. We heard that broadband access meant connecting with your health care provider, completing a classroom assignment, and maintaining and expanding your business.

    Fast forward two years, and we all realize just how important broadband is to our healthcare system, schools, businesses, and everyday life.

    In concert with the 2018 hearing, the Center sponsored research to learn more about broadband access and availability statewide. That research, published in 2019, collected more than 11 million broadband speed tests from across Pennsylvania and found that median speeds across most areas of the state did not meet the Federal Communications Commission’s criteria to qualify as a broadband connection.

    That research documented the varying levels of actual connectivity speeds that Pennsylvanians experienced while participating in a broadband test. The maps produced from those tests made it perfectly clear that a digital divide in Pennsylvania is real, and that connectivity speeds are substantially slower in our rural counties. The study was a first of its kind and clearly showed the shortcomings of the FCC procedure to assess broadband connectivity speed in our area.

    To follow up the 2019 research, the Center sponsored another study to learn if rural Pennsylvanians were willing to pay for broadband services. That research, published late last year, underscored rural Pennsylvanians’ willingness to pay for high-speed broadband services and showed that urban and rural Pennsylvania residents are receiving inequitable broadband service — not only in terms of broadband speed, but also in the prices they pay for service.

    While we know that there are some challenges of deploying broadband because of geography and isolation, we also know that there are solutions. Take for example the work of Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc., one of 13 rural electric cooperatives in Pennsylvania servicing Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Clinton, McKean and Cameron counties, which is now building a broadband network in north central Pennsylvania. With the help of state and federal grants and loans, Tri-Co Connections, the internet subsidiary of Tri-County Rural Electric, will install 2,800 miles of fiber lines throughout the cooperatives service area over the next six years.

    Tri-County had its challenges — including a large senior population and a large concentration of second homes in its territory — but it also saw the opportunities and benefits of working to provide broadband to its communities. Things like preventing youth outmigration, promoting tourism, creating jobs, improving access to telehealth, and increased housing values, all proved more beneficial than waiting for some other service provider to come along.

    Act 98 may encourage others to take up the challenge of providing broadband to our rural communities. Relaxing the regulations on cooperatives was one of the recommendations in our most recent research on broadband internet services, Broadband Demand: The Cost and Price Elasticity of Broadband Internet Service in Rural Pennsylvania.

    As the legislature begins the 2021-22 session, this research provides additional recommendations on the next steps that may be taken to continue the deployment of high-speed broadband internet service to rural Pennsylvania. For example, it recommends changing Pennsylvania’s current definition of “broadband,” which is defined as 1.544 megabits per second download and 128 kilobits per second upload speed, to meet or exceed federal definitions for broadband.

    Over the years, and especially last year, we’ve all come to realize just how important broadband is to our economy, our healthcare system, our schools, and more. Broadband deployment will continue to be an issue in the years ahead.

    The Center has been promoting broadband development in our rural areas for more than a decade and it will continue to provide valuable data and policy recommendations. Rural Pennsylvania needs high-speed broadband services.

    (State Sen. Gene Yaw, a Lycoming County Republican, is chairman of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the General Assembly.)

    Tags:

    broadband center commerce company cooperative economics inc. nets pennsylvania recommendation tri-county rural electric cooperative
    GENE YAW, Special to The Era

    The Bradford Era

    Local & Social
    Latest news for you
    SBU receives $2.3 million grant to boost behavioral health workforce
    Business, Local News
    SBU receives $2.3 million grant to boost behavioral health workforce
    June 30, 2025
    ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — St. Bonaventure University has been awarded a four-year, $2.3 million federal grant to expand and strengthen the behavioral he...
    Read More...
    Shapiro to expand initiative to boost substance use disorder workforce
    Local News, PA State News
    Shapiro to expand initiative to boost substance use disorder workforce
    June 30, 2025
    CLEARFIELD — Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones joined several Clearfield County substance u...
    Read More...
    Glass creations and so much more
    Local News
    Glass creations and so much more
    June 30, 2025
    Kalpana Lehman of Carlisle waits on customers at her booth during the 19th Annual Art in the Wilds held this past weekend at Kane's Evergreen Park. Le...
    Read More...
    {"to-print":"To print", "bradfordera-website":"Website"}
    Bradford eliminates Punxsy with 6-4 win
    Local Sports
    Bradford eliminates Punxsy with 6-4 win
    Sara Furlong s.furlong@bradfordera.com 
    June 30, 2025
    With a 13-0 loss to DuBois on Saturday, Bradford Regional Little League Major Baseball All-Stars found their backs to the wall Monday, hosting Punxsut...
    Read More...
    {"to-print":"To print", "bradfordera-website":"Website"}
    No Era edition Friday; Weekend Edition will print Thursday
    Local News, Obituaries
    No Era edition Friday; Weekend Edition will print Thursday
    June 30, 2025
    There will be no edition of The Bradford Era on Friday due to the Fourth of July federal holiday. So that Era staff can enjoy the holiday with family ...
    Read More...
    Big thrills to hit Kinzua Beach this Labor Day weekend
    Local News
    Big thrills to hit Kinzua Beach this Labor Day weekend
    Sara Furlong 
    June 30, 2025
    Take your Johnson, your Mercury, your Evinrude or your camp chairs and your lawn blankets and get to Kinzua Beach this Labor Day weekend, because Kinz...
    Read More...
    {"newsletter-daily-headlines":"Daily Headlines", "newsletters":"Newsletters", "to-print":"To print", "bradfordera-website":"Website"}
    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    This Week's Ads
    Current e-Edition
    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    Already a subscriber? Click the image to view the latest e-edition.
    Don't have a subscription? Click here to see our subscription options.
    Mobile App

    Download Now

    The Bradford Era mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the Bradford Era on your mobile device just as it appears in print.

    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store

    Help Our Community

    Please help local businesses by taking an online survey to help us navigate through these unprecedented times. None of the responses will be shared or used for any other purpose except to better serve our community. The survey is at: www.pulsepoll.com $1,000 is being awarded. Everyone completing the survey will be able to enter a contest to Win as our way of saying, "Thank You" for your time. Thank You!

    Get in touch with The Bradford Era
    Submit Content
    • Submit News
    • Letter to the Editor
    • Place Wedding Announcement
      • Submit News
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Place Wedding Announcement
    Advertise
    • Place Birth Announcement
    • Place Anniversary Announcement
    • Place Obituary Call (814) 368-3173
      • Place Birth Announcement
      • Place Anniversary Announcement
      • Place Obituary Call (814) 368-3173
    Subscribe
    • Start a Subscription
    • e-Edition
    • Contact Us
      • Start a Subscription
      • e-Edition
      • Contact Us
    CMG | Community Media Group
    Illinois
    • Hancock Journal-Pilot
    • Iroquois Times-Republic
    • Journal-Republican
    • The News-Gazette
      • Hancock Journal-Pilot
      • Iroquois Times-Republic
      • Journal-Republican
      • The News-Gazette
    Indiana
    • Fountain Co. Neighbor
    • Herald Journal
    • KV Post News
    • Newton Co. Enterprise
    • Rensselaer Republican
    • Review-Republican
      • Fountain Co. Neighbor
      • Herald Journal
      • KV Post News
      • Newton Co. Enterprise
      • Rensselaer Republican
      • Review-Republican
    Iowa
    • Atlantic News Telegraph
    • Audubon Advocate-Journal
    • Barr’s Post Card News
    • Burlington Hawk Eye
    • Collector’s Journal
    • Fayette County Union
    • Ft. Madison Daily Democrat
    • Independence Bulletin-Journal
    • Keokuk Daily Gate City
    • Oelwein Daily Register
    • Vinton Newspapers
    • Waverly Newspapers
      • Atlantic News Telegraph
      • Audubon Advocate-Journal
      • Barr’s Post Card News
      • Burlington Hawk Eye
      • Collector’s Journal
      • Fayette County Union
      • Ft. Madison Daily Democrat
      • Independence Bulletin-Journal
      • Keokuk Daily Gate City
      • Oelwein Daily Register
      • Vinton Newspapers
      • Waverly Newspapers
    Michigan
    • Iosco County News-Herald
    • Ludington Daily News
    • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
    • Oscoda Press
    • White Lake Beacon
      • Iosco County News-Herald
      • Ludington Daily News
      • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
      • Oscoda Press
      • White Lake Beacon
    New York
    • Finger Lakes Times
    • Olean Times Herald
    • Salamanca Press
      • Finger Lakes Times
      • Olean Times Herald
      • Salamanca Press
    Pennsylvania
    • Bradford Era
    • Clearfield Progress
    • Courier Express
    • Free Press Courier
    • Jeffersonian Democrat
    • Leader Vindicator
    • Potter Leader-Enterprise
    • The Wellsboro Gazette
      • Bradford Era
      • Clearfield Progress
      • Courier Express
      • Free Press Courier
      • Jeffersonian Democrat
      • Leader Vindicator
      • Potter Leader-Enterprise
      • The Wellsboro Gazette
    © Copyright The Bradford Era 43 Main St, Bradford, PA  | Terms of Use  | Privacy Policy
    Powered by TECNAVIA