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The Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission has announced the formation of a new nonprofit organization to support the development of broadband infrastructure to ensure residents and businesses have access to reliable, high-speed internet service.
Alleghenies Broadband Inc. will work to enhance infrastructure through public-private partnerships to deliver high-speed internet to rural areas that currently lack connectivity in a six-county region that includes Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties.
Alleghenies Broadband Inc. will implement projects identified in the plan, which will be completed in phases as funding is available. The group partnered to submit a federal grant application requesting funds for a pilot project to begin offering services in areas that the plan identified as lacking the FCC definition of broadband — 25 Mbps download,
3 Mbps upload. An effort is underway to purchase and install fixed wireless equipment at three existing tower sites to provide quality internet service to more than 300 homes and businesses in the region.
Brandon Carson, director of planning and community development at Southern Alleghenies, has been working on the commission’s broadband efforts for the last two years.
“With the planning and preliminary design analysis now complete, we’re in a great position to move forward and begin facilitating access to reliable, high-speed connectivity for residents and businesses in our region,” Carson said in a statement. “SAP&DC and ABI will work tirelessly to ensure that individuals in rural communities have the same access afforded to those living in urban areas.”
Carson emphasized that schools, businesses, first responders, health care professionals and residents rely on having a quality broadband connection as part of their daily lives. Students are learning virtually, workers are telecommuting when feasible and individuals are accessing medical care remotely; none of this is possible without adequate broadband infrastructure.