As states ordered business closures and travel and personal contact restrictions, much of the country and Pennsylvania turned to the internet to conduct business and education, and to maintain social connections.
But according to the Federal Communications Commission, 800,000 Pennsylvanians do not have that option due to lack of broadband access. And industry experts say that number is far too low because the FCC uses data self-reported by internet service providers. According to a statewide study by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, no county could report that more than half of its residents have service at more than 25 megabytes-per-second.
Lack of universal broadband access has been damaging. Many private schools and some public school districts easily shifted to online instruction. Many urban students did not have computers or internet service, however, and hundreds of thousands of rural students never had a chance due to the lack of broadband.
Prohibitions on personal contact also drove a rise in telemedicine. That option was far from universally available, due to the lack of broadband.
Before the crisis, universal broadband widely was considered a principal means of increasing educational opportunities and economic development. The COVID-19 experience should add urgency to broadband deployment.
In January, prior to the pandemic’s arrival in the United States, the FCC approved the 10-year, $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, which is designed to provide high-speed broadband networks for 6 million people in underserved areas, including to 200,000 homes and businesses in Pennsylvania.
Congress should expand that program as part of the pandemic recovery effort.
Recently at the state Capitol, House committees approved two bills, with broadly bipartisan majorities, that would help the process.
One would allow rural electric cooperatives to use existing easements and right of ways for infrastructure needed to deliver broadband. The other, based on a recommendation from the nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office, would convert a rarely used tax credit for broadband development into a grant program to help accelerate specific projects.
The Legislature should pass both bills to help make sure that broadband is universally available not just for emergencies, but to improve economic opportunities statewide.
©2020 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
