Pennsylvania races to correct FCC broadband map to boost federal funding

By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square

HARRISBURG, PA – Pennsylvania’s Broadband Development Authority is urging the public to check and correct the FCC’s new broadband map – the more unserved areas that get identified, the more federal money the commonwealth will receive.

The BDA has held a series of in-person and virtual meetings as part of a public listening tour to get local feedback and walk through the challenge process to correct the FCC’s updated internet service map released in November.

States have until Jan. 13 to submit corrections that affect federal funding. The BDA aims to finish its submission by Jan. 9; corrections to the FCC map will be accepted after the 13th, but will not affect federal funding.

“The national broadband map is really key to ensuring that Pennsylvania receives the allocations that can help build out infrastructure to some of our more rural communities,” Nicole Ugarte, a broadband program specialist at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said during a Luzerne County meeting Thursday.

Local knowledge is “of the utmost importance,” she noted, in directing broadband money to where it’s most needed.

The short timeline to correct the FCC map comes from the federal government’s goal to get funds out to states as soon as possible. The goal is to send out broadband funding in 2023 and the NTIA plans to announce the state awards by June 30.

“From counting backwards from when we want to get the funding in community hands to be able to build this infrastructure, it meant that, to determine everybody’s grant allocation by the middle of next year, we really want to make sure the challenge process happens as early as possible,” Ugarte said.

Federal funding will come through three programs created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the main one being the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, which will provide $42 billion nationally. Another $279 million is expected to come through the American Rescue Plan Act for capital projects.

States with a greater need to build out broadband to reach unserved and underserved areas will get a bigger slice of the federal pie. Making sure that the FCC map is accurate and poor broadband service is identified, then, is a big deal.

“Each location, to the state, is probably worth between $3,000 and $5,000 … so that could be a lot of money to help your community expand broadband,” Tom Beresnyak of the Penn State University Extension said during a Venango County meeting Wednesday.

The money will go to the Broadband Development Authority, who will then issue grants across the state. Those grants will be “competitive in nature,” BDA economic analyst Kalie Snyder said.

The goal is to send out BEAD money for projects that prioritize unserved areas, underserved areas, and community anchor institutions in 2024. Capital project funds from ARPA, however, will go out earlier, in the first quarter of 2023.

“There’s been a lot of misconception going around that the Authority will specifically allocate a certain amount to each locality or municipality … but that is not the case,” Snyder said. “We will be standing that up through different subgrant programs.”

Altogether, Pennsylvania could see about $1 billion to build out broadband statewide, as The Center Square previously reported.