Pennsylvania approves $204 million for broadband expansion

The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority on Wednesday approved $204 million in Broadband Infrastructure Program grant awards to 53 projects. The projects aim to connect more than 100,000 people at 40,000 homes and businesses with high-speed internet.

The state’s Broadband Infrastructure Program is funded through the federal Capital Projects Fund through the U.S. Department of Treasury during the COVID-19 pandemic to support critical capital development projects. In June 2022, the Pennsylvania General Assembly appropriated the state’s portion of those funds to the state broadband authority. 

The grants were awarded to businesses and nonprofit organizations and will be matched by more than $200 million in private investment, creating a combined investment of more than $400 million in broadband expansion, according to a press release. 

“As Pennsylvanians increasingly rely on broadband to live healthy and productive lives, expanding access to the internet is essential to creating opportunity for folks all across the Commonwealth,” PBDA Executive Director Brandon Carson said in the release. “These projects will leverage historic federal funding and private investment to connect communities to the internet–and the PBDA will continue working to make this a reality for even more Pennsylvanians.”

Uri Monson, PBDA board chair and state budget secretary, said that more than 276,000 households, businesses, schools and libraries do not have access to broadband service in Pennsylvania.

“To create more opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, we must expand access to reliable and affordable high-speed internet,” Monson said in the release. “The broadband infrastructure awards made today are yet another step toward making that a reality while responsibly managing this funding to ultimately save Pennsylvanians money on the critical internet services they need for the best quality of life.”

Though the funds through the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Program have been distributed, businesses, local governments, nonprofits and other groups can now turn their attention to grants through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program. The state is slated to receive $1.16 billion in federal funding to continue broadband expansion work, and applications are expected to open later this year.