BEDFORD — More than 2,000 homes in south-central Pennsylvania could receive new or improved access to broadband internet service under a number of provisional grant awards recently announced by the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority.

Under the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act signed in 2021 by then-President Joe Biden, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration was awarded $42.45 billion to expand access to broadband internet nationwide through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

The broadband development authority oversees distribution of the about $1.2 billion earmarked for Pennsylvania, which will be disbursed through a number of individual local projects supported by grant awards.

In late August, the authority announced its tentative list of grant recipients, which will be passed along to the federal National Telecommunications and Information Administration for final approval by the end of the year, according to Alleghenies Broadband project manager Dustin Bishop.

Alleghenies Broadband Inc. is a a nonprofit 501(c)(3) comprised of local government leaders from Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties that has partnered with local internet services providers to assist in their application process for development authority grant funding to expand broadband access in the six counties it represents.

The preliminary awards issued in August may be subject to change upon review by the NTIA, but the initial list is a good indicator of the projects the Broadband Development Authority considers “high quality and low-cost,” Bishop said.

“It’s ultimately up to the (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) to give the yes or no on PBDA’s preliminary awards.”

Now, the NTIA has a maximum of 90 days to issue its final approval on the preliminary list.

The projects included in the award will expand broadband service to both underserved and fully unserved areas across the commonwealth through wired fiber optic, local wireless and low-Earth orbit satellite technologies.

Bishop estimates that work on awarded projects will begin shortly after the NTIA announces the final decision later this year, which would likely result in actual construction on many sites starting in late December 2025 or early 2026.

“That 90 days is the absolute maximum, but we hope to hear back from (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) sooner than that,” he said.

Funding must be used within four years after the award date, Bishop said, so the very last projects could be completed by late 2029.

The sequence and construction timeline of each specific project is up to the individual ISP that receives grant funding.

According to Bedford County Commissioners’ Chair Mike Stiles, many people in Bedford County do not have adequate broadband coverage, so the development awards could help bring them much-needed internet service.

“The goal is to get coverage for as many of our county residents as possible,” he said during a Tuesday county commissioners meeting.

New coverage locations

Within the six-county region administered by Alleghenies Broadband, several areas will see the greatest increase in broadband coverage due to the potential projects outlined in the preliminary Broadband Development Authority awards.

Thousands of potential project locations are listed on an authority map of preliminary award sites, with the highest density occurring in rural, sparsely populated locations.

The entirety of Morrisons Cove, as well as rural areas near Tyrone and Claysburg in Blair County, are marked for service increases.

In Bedford County, the area east of Gallitzin State Forest and around Patience will be covered.

Almost the whole of southern Somerset County is set to receive an increase in coverage, while Huntingdon County will see an across-the-board upgrade in all areas.

Northern and southern Cambria County will have the highest density of projects, according to the map of preliminary project locations.

The exact number and scope of supported projects is subject to change upon NTIA review, Bishop said.

Interested parties can find more information on the Broadband Development Authority’s process — and a detailed map of individual projects covered by the preliminary awards — at https://broadband.pa.gov/ under the “Maps & Data” subhead.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.