Policy committee hears testimony about connectivity issues in Fayette
On the drive from his home to Lemont Furnace to testify at a hearing on broadband and cellular connectivity, Luzerne Township Supervisor Gregg Downer used his cellphone to talk to his wife.
He lost the connection three times, he told Republican Policy Committee members who attended.
State Reps. Ryan Warner of Perryopolis and Charity Grimm Krupa of Smithfield, members of the policy committee, said they understood Downer’s challenge all too well.
“I live 25 miles south of Pittsburgh, and I can’t have a cellphone conversation in my car,” Warner said, adding that internet and cellphone coverage in 2023 is a necessity. “We’re living in the age of communication, and I’m looking at my area and saying, ‘Wow, we’re going backwards.'”
Downer told the panel that many roads in the township he represents spotty cellular service and there are many dead zones. To compound that problem, he said, landlines are becoming a thing of the past. He pointed out that a telephone line that provided service for 18 homes on Adah Palmer Road went bad three years ago, and the telephone company wouldn’t repair the line.
“If their house catches on fire, they’ll have to go 3 miles up the road to get help,” Downer said. “No landline, no cellphone service, no internet.”
Downer said it took the supervisors about three years, around 100 phone calls and a lot of red tape to have an internet company come in and bring broadband to that area, and in the end, the township footed the $28,500 bill.
“The main reason we did it was because we thought it was a safety issue, which it was,” Downer said.
The committee members, which also included State Rep. Josh Kail, who represents parts of Washington and Beaver counties, also heard from Richard Black, the 911 GIS/Systems Manager for Fayette County EMA. He is also a paramedic for Brownsville Ambulance Service and the Brownsville Fire Company No. 1 Chief.
From a first responder and emergency management standpoint, Black said, some of the biggest difficulties performing their duties are borne of the rural areas where there’s little or no cellular and broadband coverage. For example, he said, 911 can receive text messages for help, or track the cellphone location of someone having an emergency.
“All of this requires broadband connectivity and cellphone coverage,” Black said. “They need to effectively communicate with us, so we can get them the help they need.”
Brandon Carson, executive director of the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA), testified that the FCC identified more than 330,000 locations in Pennsylvania lacking access to reliable, high-speed internet service.
Rural parts of the state are disproportionately impacted by lack of connectivity as only 26% of Pennsylvania residents live in rural areas. Yet, that 26% of the state’s population makes up 81% of those lacking reliable service.
Carson said roughly $1.5 billion in federal money has been allocated to Pennsylvania to build internet infrastructure to be distributed as competitive grant awards over the next two years. He said the hope is that all areas of the state will have reliable internet by 2030.
“We anticipate some obstacles, such as permitting delays,” Carson said, adding that the PBDA is collaborating closely with various state agencies to better understand potential issues. “Along those same lines, we are in the process of developing a broadband-ready strategy to help local governments reduce procedural, policy and permitting barriers to broadband deployment.”
“Our commonwealth has contributed to the delay for not just one industry, but across the board,” Krupa said. “That’s unacceptable. The commonwealth needs to do better.”
Carson said one of the top issues is the need of partners to help invest the funds – whether it’s local governments or internet service providers.
“We could give $5 billion, but if we don’t have willing partners to build these networks out, it’s a non-starter,” Cason said.
Andrew French, executive director of the Fayette County Redevelopment Authority, testified the county completed its broadband infrastructure analysis this year, identifying 2,374 addresses that contain clusters of those who are unserved and underserved.
The county used $5.4 million in CARES Act money to create 29 high-speed hot-spot locations to the most rural areas of the county, and officials are in the process of using $4.6 million in funding to create another network of high-speed hot-spot locations in the western and northern areas of the county.
A planned third expansion will include installing fiber networks directly to rural areas.
“If successful, this phase will utilize $10 million in funding that is requested through the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority capital fund program to install fiber along 118.09 miles of roadway to serve over 2,000 unserved and underserved locations,” French said.
Warner said the three biggest issues he identified from testimony were permitting, supply chain issues and money.
“We’re putting up our own roadblocks,” Warner said of the state government’s permitting causing delays. “It’s something we need to work on.”
He also noted the federal aid given to foreign countries, and questioned whether it could be put to better use in the U.S.
“(Connectivity is) a basic necessity the government should support,” he said.