Six years ago, I started Crowsnest Broadband in central Pennsylvania to solve a problem in my own backyard: people couldn’t get online. Not reliably, not affordably, and not fast enough to work, learn or stay connected.

Our Appalachian forests are beautiful, but their topography and other factors prevented access to the Internet. As a result, many homes couldn’t stream a video, join a Zoom call or even make a phone call, leaving the area in the digital divide.

This is where we live. And in a time when Internet access is a necessity, we decided to do something about it. So, we turned to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service to get the connectivity we needed. CBRS uses wireless spectrum — similar to cellphones — to reach miles through dense trees and challenging terrain, connecting homes, churches, schools, and fire stations that no other network could.

It has allowed us to deliver reliable access by avoiding the expensive, complex and-time consuming step of wiring every residence or establishment to the Internet. Consequently, 70% of our service area now runs on CBRS.

That lifeline is under threat, however. Some Washington insiders want to reallocate CBRS to balance Uncle Sam’s budget. If that happens, our business — and the connectivity we’ve built — won’t survive, forcing small, local providers like us out.

CBRS isn’t just a spectrum. It’s the reason rural families can work, learn and call for help. Taking it away would erase years of progress and leave communities like ours offline once again.

Dwayne Zimmerman

Altoona

Editor’s note: The Citizens Broadband Radio Service is caught in a debate over using its 3.5 GHz band for budget revenue via auctions versus preserving it as a shared innovation space for rural broadband, private 5G and Wi-Fi.