To improve internet access in Pennsylvania’s rural areas, Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled the Office of Broadband Initiatives to supervise access to high-speed internet March 26. In addition, private companies could receive up to $35 million in financial incentives to expand broadband access.
State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-50, said part of the funds will be provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. She has worked alongside state Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, to help bring 800,000 Pennsylvania citizens access. On the same day of the unveiling, Snyder and Hill announced an emphasis on legislation that allows state assets to be used to increase internet access.
“The governor has released $35 million of money that is through the Department of Transportation’s budget for companies to use to leverage the connect America money from the federal government,” Snyder said. “So this money will be used to leverage the federal funds so they can draw down on that and hopefully be able to provide upgraded services and provide high-speed broadband to more rural parts of Pennsylvania.”
Snyder said education and farming will be among the areas that benefit from enhanced broadband access.
“It impacts [students’ abilities] to complete their assignments,” Snyder said. “It’s extremely important for people who want to take online college courses and can’t. In today’s world, agriculture and farming have become very high tech. Farmers now need access to high-speed broadband, to do a lot of what they want to do in the agricultural community.”
In 2016, the Federal Communications Commission released its annual broadband progress report. The report stated that 12 percent of Greene County residents didn’t have broadband access, making it one of 34 counties in Pennsylvania that fell below the national average.
For Snyder, the effect that increased broadband technology would have on the local economy is massive.
“It has a huge impact on whether or not a business is going to locate in Greene County and provide jobs that we need,” she said. “There’s probably not many businesses out there that would even consider locating in an area that doesn’t have access to high-speed broadband.”
Snyder said she received encouragement from local businesses in the effort to improve internet access.
“I have business owners come up to me all the time and say ‘keep working at it, make sure that you keep trying to get this issue resolved for everyone,’” she said. “Because it does impact their businesses. When you are in an area where there’s only one provider, and there’s no competition, and homeowners and business owners only have to ability to have one choice of their internet provider. That choice might not be up to par with what they need. [It’s] a really huge issue for them.”
Although the initiative will have a significant local impact, Greene County isn’t the only area to be affected economically. According to Snyder, the entire 50th district will benefit.
“This isn’t just about Greene County,” Snyder said. “This is about an entire district. You want to always be looking to increase the tax base in a school district, in a township, in a county, and if you have new businesses coming in, that helps increase that tax base, and it helps keep everybody’s property taxes lower.”
The executive director of the Office of Broadband Initiatives will be Mark Smith. Smith has previously served as a commissioner of Bradford County as well as Wolf’s deputy chief of staff.
Snyder has been working with the efforts on “multiple levels.”
She sent a letter to the FCC in February, asking it to dedicate four TV stations of white space to Microsoft Corp. The letter featured the names of 44 representatives and senators. Snyder said that she hasn’t yet received a response. She also met with Microsoft, as it has high-speed internet through the white spaces on TV stations.
“We’re trying to move this in a lot of different directions, so the end result, people can have what they need for their internet service,” Snyder said.
The Office of Broadband Initiatives hopes to develop a detailed proposal to expand high-speed internet access by 2022. Because of the complicity of the issue, Snyder thinks it will be a huge plus if Gov. Wolf is able to reach his goal.
“[The goal is] aggressive, and I hope he’s right,” Snyder said. “I hope we can accomplish that. I just think we need to continue to work toward that goal and to work towards the goal that everybody has that access. If we can make that happen within the next four years, that would be phenomenal. Because this is not an easy issue. There’s no easy fix to this.”