BELLEFONTE, PA — Pennsylvania awarded more than $448 million Friday for broadband projects across 50 counties, deploying the first round of a federal program intended to extend high-speed internet service to the state’s remaining unserved and underserved areas.
Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority Executive Director Brandon Carson detailed the awards during a visit to Bald Eagle High School in Centre County. The funding follows federal approval in April of more than $711 million in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding for Pennsylvania.
The state plans to award the remaining BEAD funds before the end of 2026. Pennsylvania originally received a $1.16 billion allocation through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The grants will support fiber and fixed-wireless projects, along with multifamily residential deployment, planning and engineering, physical improvements, personnel expenses and network software upgrades. Projects require recipients to provide a match equal to at least 25% of total project costs.
The state finalized agreements with Central Bradford Progress Authority, Centre WISP Venture Company, Frontier Communications, Brightspeed, CoreConnect, eCommunity Holdings, IBT Group USA, Upward Broadband, Verizon Pennsylvania and Verizon North.
Verizon is receiving $28.85 million in BEAD funding and investing $40 million in a project expected to reach nearly 3,000 homes and businesses in Centre and Mifflin counties.
The awards come as Pennsylvania seeks to eliminate its remaining broadband coverage gaps by the end of the decade. The number of households without high-speed internet access has fallen from more than 330,000 in 2022 to fewer than 133,000, according to the Shapiro administration.
“We’ve already connected nearly 200,000 households to the internet in the last several years and now we’re working to connect the remaining 133,000 households in the next four years,” Shapiro said.
Carson characterized broadband access as increasingly necessary for education, banking and health care, with the latest projects targeting rural communities and other areas that have lacked adequate service.
The Centre County portion carries particular significance for the Bald Eagle Area School District. A county broadband study in 2021 found more than 8,000 Centre County addresses lacked broadband access, according to county Commissioner Mark Higgins. The projects are expected to extend connectivity to nearly everyone living within the school district.
Bald Eagle High School counselor Katie Kingera described students relying on a parent’s cellphone hotspot to complete assignments or trying to finish homework during school hours because they lacked dependable internet service at home.
“For rural students, broadband means access to education, college applications, career opportunities and resources beyond our community,” Kingera said.
The broadband authority previously deployed more than $269 million through other connectivity programs, including $204.1 million for infrastructure projects, $45 million for multipurpose community facilities and $20 million to distribute devices through schools, libraries, municipalities and other organizations.
Pennsylvanians who still lack high-speed internet can check the state’s estimated timetable for service at pa.gov/ConnectPA.
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