From staff reports
The Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania (BCAP) congratulated four of its system members for winning competitive grants through the PA Broadband Development Authority’s Capital Projects Fund (CPF) to help build broadband infrastructure in unserved areas across the Commonwealth.
Of the $204 million in grants awarded to 12 unique applicants, four are BCAP members: Adams Cable in Carbondale; Armstrong Telecommunications of Butler; Blue Ridge Communications in Palmerton; and Comcast of Philadelphia. Collectively, they received 16 of the winning projects serving the following counties: Adams, Beaver, Berks, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Chester, Cumberland, Indiana, Luzerne, Monroe, Washington, Wayne, Wyoming and York.
“Today’s approval of these grant funds is terrific news for the communities across Pennsylvania that have cried out for broadband service and have felt left behind for far too long,” said BCAP President Todd Eachus. “Now that a significant amount of grant funding will directly support broadband infrastructure, the communities benefiting from the grants announced today can begin to look to the future and prepare for any number of exciting economic, telehealth, educational and technological opportunities that await them.”
The awards were voted on today (Thursday) by the PDBA Board of Directors at its quarterly spring meeting in Harrisburg. The CPF program is a $205 million broadband infrastructure program established to facilitate the deployment of high-speed broadband service infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas of the Commonwealth. Projects must be executed between July 2024 and December 2026.
“We are also hopeful that as we all move forward, that the lessons learned in the CPF process will be applied for the $1.16 billion in additional federal funding available to Pennsylvania in 2025,” Eachus concluded.
In addition to the CPF grants, Pennsylvania is expected to receive $1.16 billion in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds in the next two years. The federal government is currently reviewing Pennsylvania’s guidelines for that program.