Last week, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority’s (PBDA) plan for nearly $800 million in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding. PBDA says its revised plan will provide broadband coverage to all unserved and underserved areas across the commonwealth within four years. Click here to view the final plan. Click here for a broadband map that shows the providers that will serve the remaining unserved and underserved locations.   

NTIA approval comes five months after PBDA submitted its plan in early September. The NTIA review was expected to take 90 days but was delayed by the Congressional shutdown and the holidays. The proposal is now under review by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is required prior to the execution of contracts for the proposed awardees. Click here to see the next steps prior to broadband availability for residents and businesses that need this critical service. 

Last year, PSATS submitted comments expressing its support for the PBDA’s final BEAD plan due to its focus on ensuring cost-effective broadband service to all unserved and underserved, its strategies to ensure compliance by the provisional awardees, and PBDA’s success in identifying awardees to serve all identified areas. In its final draft, PBDA pledged to continue coordinating with affected municipalities to streamline deployments, which PSATS urged it to do. Click here for the PSATS comments.