Delays stall Pa. broadband expansion plans

The Biden administration’s promise in 2022 was speedy internet access for every American as part of a $42.45 billion, once-in-a-generation U.S. infrastructure upgrade.

Internet service giants Comcast and Verizon jumped in line with counties in submitting bids to make the dream come true by 2030. In Pennsylvania, contract awards for broadband expansion were anticipated before the end of 2025.

All of that is now delayed a year as the federal government rewrites program guidelines, forcing contractors to start from scratch in rebidding work worth more than $1 billion.

But that’s not all.

In a social media post Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened to cut funding for the U.S. broadband expansion plan “immediately,” calling the program “racist” and “totally unconstitutional.” It’s unclear whether his views will further hobble rollout of the program.

In Pennsylvania — already challenged by difficult topography that complicates improved internet service — the state’s prevailing wage requirements will drive up broadband expansion costs while the U.S. Commerce Department’s new specifications mean that many people in rural areas will likely end up with slower internet speeds at higher costs than their neighbors in cities, experts say.

“The program as it is designed would’ve efficiently closed the digital divide,” said Evan Feinman, former director of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, the Biden initiative that was going to make speedy internet in the U.S. as common as telephones once were. Rebidding every broadband upgrade in the U.S. as the result of the new guidelines is “highly likely,” he said.

“States have taken a long time to develop these plans,” which will have to be rewritten, Mr. Feinman said. “All of this will certainly create significant delays.”

The Commerce Department has not said when the new rules will be issued.

In the meantime, Fayette County, where about 8,000 locations have poor or no internet service, is among the rural parts of Pennsylvania that are eager for expanded broadband, Commissioner Vince Vicites said.

“We have a really good plan and we’d like to move forward,” Mr. Vicites said. “We’re going to make this happen one way or the other.”

Some 160,000 homes and businesses in Pennsylvania don’t have adequate broadband service and therefore are eligible for BEAD-funded internet connections. Pennsylvania’s share of the $42.45 billion federal program is $1.16 billion.

But the rollout of Internet for All is hobbled by administrative delays, and in Pennsylvania, burdened by higher labor costs when compared to many other states.

The federal government approved the first part of Pennsylvania’s internet expansion plans in 2024, and in January, the state closed its first round of project bidding for broadband projects. But Pennsylvania has not scheduled a final round of bidding and the state is taking a wait-and-see approach to getting final approval from the federal government for getting everybody online.

“We are alone in having no functioning board authority or state strategy,” said Sascha Meinrath, policy advocate and Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State University. “In essence we have regressed at the state and federal level.”

In a statement Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority defended its decision to hold off seeking federal approval for internet expansion plans.

“PBDA is awaiting updated guidance from the National Telecommunications & Information Administration in order to avoid potential delays that could be caused by having our final proposal rejected by the federal government,” a spokeswoman said. “PBDA remains prepared to pivot as necessary to ensure Pennsylvania moves forward in a way that’s both compliant with federal guidance and ensures timely construction of broadband networks.”

Pivoting for Pennsylvania — and every other state — will include expanded use of satellite connections to the internet to reach rural areas to comply with a new federal directive.

In January, the Commerce Department dropped the Biden-era preference for fiber optic internet connections to allow satellite links to expand consumer access, part of what U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick called “ripping out the Biden Administration’s pointless requirements.”

That will open the door wider for low-orbiting satellites, like ones launched by Elon Musk’s Starlink Services LLC, to get people online in places where it’s too costly to stretch fiber optic cable. The change will mostly affect rural residents because urban areas are already served by fiber optic cable.

Satellite connections could be a big help in Pennsylvania, where the PBDA said there are 15,000 sites that are too remote to make burying fiber practical.

But Mr. Feinman said average satellite internet speeds are generally slower and more costly to the consumer than fiber connections — $50 a month for fiber versus $120 per month for satellite. Also, satellites have a lifespan of three to five years whereas fiber can last decades in the ground with little or no maintenance.

“The end result is to increase satellite connections at the expense of fiber optic connections,” Mr. Feinman said. “It’s a really significant step backwards in speed and quality of connections.”

Complicating Mr. Biden’s Internet for All rollout in Pennsylvania is the state’s prevailing wage requirements, which were enacted in 1961 and will drive up installation costs. The law requires workers on government-funded contracts to get paid at least the wages set for various job classifications by the state Department of Labor & Industry.

L&I classifies fiber optic installers as “electric linemen,” the same workers who handle high-voltage power lines high atop utility poles, even though cable workers face far fewer perils on the job.

The Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania, a Harrisburg-based trade group, says the L&I’s job grouping is incorrect; a more accurate designation could lower broadband project costs by over 50%, allowing the state’s broadband expansion dollars to go further.

Hickory Telephone Co., which traces its roots to 1904, was among the small companies submitting bids for BEAD money to expand internet access, but CEO Brian Jeffers said the company would have to see the government’s revised rules before deciding whether to bid again.

“Getting the application together was not cheap; it was a lot of work,” said Mr. Jeffers, whose company proposed extending service to a couple hundred locations in Washington County. “And it’s not for us, it’s for the people who need broadband and they need it now.

“People need broadband now.”