County commissioners expect to vote on ratification of a contract with All Points Broadband of Richmond, Va., at their meeting next week.
If approved, All Points would install about 350 miles of new fiber line to approximately 2,370 locations in 10 areas of northern and eastern parts of the county by summer 2026.
Initial parts of the project would be in the Cambridge Springs area as well as the Bloomfield Township and Spartansburg areas. The areas are determined to have the least amount of infrastructure, with the most potential addresses and the highest response rate to a 2022 county survey that said they don't have access to broadband Internet.
The proposed contract agreement with All Points was presented at Wednesday's work session.
The county is committing approximately $3 million of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to begin the project. Those funds will be used to leverage additional money from Pennsylvania to expand broadband services within the county. The state has dedicated money to broadband expansion in rural areas.
Pennsylvania is taking broadband expansion grant applications until May, according to Zach Norwood, the county's planning director. It then would award grants by spring 2024 with All Points' construction to begin once all funding is in place, he said.
All Points' construction would take approximately two years to complete, but with initial customer installations commencing after approximately six months of construction, according to Norwood.
In 2022, commissioners and the county's American Rescue Plan Committee committed more than $3 million of the county's federal ARPA funds toward broadband improvements throughout underserved areas of the county.
All Point also will assist the county to continue to analyze the need for high-speed broadband throughout the rest of the county.
As more funding becomes available, broadband expansion will continue which will cost an estimated $27 million.
As part of the project, All Points will open new facilities in the county to support network construction and operation.
Customer installations and field network maintenance will be conducted by Pennsylvania-based fiber service technicians, according to the county.
All Points will help customers troubleshoot technical issues with the network to help first-time users.
All Points expects to offer three tiers of service ranging from approximately $59 per month to $110 per month without data caps, according to the county.
The county also plans to still use Starlink, a satellite-based Internet service, to aid other underserved areas of the county, according to Norwood.
Starlink, through Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX, uses satellite technology.
"Starlink won't overlap," Norwood said. "Folks getting Starlink are mainly outside the 10 priority locations. Starlink will be across the county."
Last month, commissioners approved a contract with SpaceX to purchase 100 Starlink kits and services. Those kits are expected to arrive in May.
Under the Starlink program, the county buys the Starlink unit for those who commit to a two-year contract and the county pays half of the first year of the monthly service cost.
The Starlink units will cost $600 each plus the Starlink service is $110 a month.
For the two years of Starlink service, based on the formula, it's a total cost per household of $1,260 for the county — $600 for the unit plus $660 in service. Each household would pay a total of $1,980 for two years worth of service.
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