HARRISBURG \u2014 Sweeping changes are coming to a massive program that aims to bring high-speed internet to everyone in the U.S., after the Trump administration rejected one of the initiative\u2019s key policy goals.<\/p>\n
The new rules for the $42.5 billion program change the way states will evaluate competing proposals, which areas are eligible for funding, and how long states have to award the grants. The announcement<\/a> in early June upended months of planning and left Pennsylvania officials scrambling as they race to meet a newly accelerated timeline for getting the money out.<\/p>\n The changes likely will result in fewer Pennsylvanians in remote and rural areas being connected to the internet via fiber optic cables, widely considered the gold standard for speed and reliability. The program originally prioritized fiber projects, but under the new rules, states must select winners based on the lowest cost. The change will make applications from wireless and satellite internet providers, including Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink, more competitive.<\/p>\n Federal officials argue the new rules will ensure taxpayers receive the best value for their money. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told a congressional committee earlier this month that states should focus on \u201cthe cheapest way to get broadband to these people, the most efficient way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n But critics say the shift will short-change rural residents by favoring technologies that are cheaper upfront but will not be able to keep up with future demand for higher speeds.<\/p>\n The new rules prioritize \u201cshort-term gain versus long-term benefit,\u201d said Christopher Ali, a professor at Penn State and the author of a book on rural broadband policy.<\/p>\n Focusing on projects with the lowest upfront cost, Ali said, risks repeating the mistakes of previous federal broadband efforts, which he argues have routinely<\/a> settled for \u201cgood enough\u201d service at the expense of long-term benefit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cheapest option will get you connected tomorrow, but the cheapest option will not be able to withstand the amount of bandwidth and data we need five years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n Pennsylvania has already completed an initial round of applications, of which 90% proposed fiber projects. Those applications will now be rescored under the new guidelines.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the state Broadband Development Authority told Spotlight PA the agency \u201cwill make every effort to comply with the new requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n In Pennsylvania, an estimated 255,000 homes and businesses can\u2019t get<\/a> internet access at broadband speeds, state data show. For internet service providers, there\u2019s little financial incentive to expand or upgrade their networks in sparsely populated rural areas.<\/p>\n After the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the increasing importance of reliable internet service for health care, education, and business, Congress created a $42.5 billion grant program to address the problem. The measure was included in the infrastructure package that passed with bipartisan support in 2021, and is the single largest investment the federal government has ever made in broadband.<\/p>\n To qualify for the funding, projects must be capable of offering at least 100 megabits per second for downloads and 20 megabits per second for uploads. A variety of technologies \u2014 including fixed wireless, satellite, and fiber \u2014 can reach those speeds.<\/p>\n The program originally gave priority to fiber, citing a need to ensure that the networks would ultimately be able to offer faster speeds to meet the needs of the future. Demand for faster connections keeps increasing as new uses and technologies emerge. The new policy document, however, says the focus on fiber relegated other technologies to \u201cthird-tier status\u201d even though they are often cheaper and faster to build.<\/p>\n It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of construction to connect some rural locations with fiber, said Steve Schwerbel, director of state advocacy at the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people we\u2019re reaching with these dollars can\u2019t wait four more years to get online \u2014 we need to get them online tomorrow or today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Instead of giving preference to fiber, states must now choose the lowest-cost proposals. If two applications are within 15% of each other on cost, state officials can weigh other factors, including how long the networks will take to build.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how much leeway states have to interpret the new rules, which warn that the federal government could reject projects, or specific locations, where costs are deemed \u201cexcessive.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, the new rules remove requirements<\/a> for states to consider labor standards, workforce development, and coordination with local governments when awarding grants.<\/p>\n They also water down a requirement that internet service providers offer a subscription option that is affordable for low-income residents, and prohibit states from considering the rates a company will charge when scoring applications. Advocates warn the changes could leave many customers unable to afford subscriptions to the grant-funded networks.<\/p>\n The full effect of the changes will not be clear until later this year, when Pennsylvania must submit its slate of grant applications to the federal government for approval.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania now has 90 days \u2014 or until early September \u2014 to complete another round of applications and submit a final proposal for federal approval.<\/p>\n Some of the requirements in the original rules were onerous for small companies, said David Gibbons, founder and CEO of a local internet service provider in central Pennsylvania. His company spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on a detailed data analysis in order to apply for the program, he said.<\/p>\n While You\u2019re Here<\/p>\n Spotlight PA\u2019s nonprofit reporting is a free public service, but it depends on your support. Give now to ensure it can continue.<\/p>\n With the fiber proposal his company originally submitted now less likely to be competitive, he is weighing whether it is worth it to apply again. Gibbons\u2019 company offers both fiber and fixed wireless, a technology that stands to benefit from the new rules. Still, he called the changes \u201cdeeply disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is: yes, fiber is expensive,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s also the only way to solve the broadband problem once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n Karen Vanco and her husband, both retired teachers, live in northern Crawford County, where the options for getting connected are limited. According to federal broadband maps, their address would qualify for upgraded service from the grant program.<\/p>\n For years, Vanco said, they relied on a DSL connection that was slow and spotty. Almost two years ago, a pandemic-era county program helped them to jump the waitlist to get connected through Starlink.<\/p>\n The service is a huge improvement, Vanco said, but prone to cutting out. At more than $120 per month, it\u2019s also expensive. Additionally, Vanco and her husband are not fans of Musk\u2019s business<\/a> practices<\/a> at his other companies.<\/p>\n They would prefer to have fiber, but it\u2019s still not an option where they live. A fiber connection would be a good investment in her community and the state as a whole, Vanco said. \u201cIt would bring me peace of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRISBURG \u2014 Sweeping changes are coming to a massive program that aims to bring high-speed internet to everyone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[174,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-7498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}