May 27, 2021 3 min read

Broadband deployment news out of Greene County is an exemplar of how industry and government working together can bring the fastest broadband speeds to rural areas in Pennsylvania.

Kinetic by Windstream, in partnership with the Greene County commissioners, just completed a deployment project that brought gigabit speeds to 7,300 homes in Bobtown, Carmichaels, Greensboro, Jefferson, Mount Morris and Waynesburg. Before this deployment, most of these residential customers had broadband speeds slower that 25 Mbps. In contrast, their new gigabit speeds mean no slowdowns or buffering when accessing the internet for work from home, virtual school or streaming entertainment. Additional upgrades in Greene County are in the works.

The project was made possible in part by CARES Act funding awarded through the Greene County commissioners, and through capital provided by Kinetic.

“Greene County commissioners continue to look for funding and partnership opportunities to ensure the efficient, effective and most affordable build-out of industry standard broadband infrastructure focused on unserved and underserved residents, businesses and industries,” Commissioner Betsy McClure said in a statement announcing the completion of the project. “Continued broadband deployment also provides the opportunity to live in Greene County and work elsewhere via telecommuting.”

Additional upgrades are underway for a project to bring increased speeds to more than 1,000 customers in Brave, Graysville, Rogersville and Waynesburg.

In Harrisburg, legislation, SB 341, moving through the General Assembly is another example of how government and business working together can remove obstacles to high-speed rural broadband. Introduced by Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York), one of the state’s leading rural broadband advocates, the legislation would modernize regulations adopted decades ago for Windstream and rural phone carriers (RLECs) in an age when they monopolized voice service. Today, the RLECs are still required to comply with the same outdated regulations even though, due to competition in the telecommunications industry, they now have less than 10% of that service. The money to comply with the now unneeded regulations would be better spent expanding access to high-speed broadband for rural residents and businesses.

The legislation is doubly warranted in a time when we’ve seen money directed to yet-to-be-proven technologies and providers, and to some hurry-up broadband efforts, which may overbuild existing networks. The RLECs have decades of experience in voice and broadband service, and will put the investment dollars unlocked by SB 341 to the most efficient use.

Steve Samara is president of the Pennsylvania Telephone Association.