Broadband Grant Award to Benefit Girard Township, Says Wentling

March 22, 2022

HARRISBURG – Rep. Parke Wentling (R-Crawford/Erie/Lawrence/Mercer) announced a $111,084 grant, through the Unserved High-Speed Broadband (UHSB) Funding Program, was approved for Spectrum Northeast, LLC.  

“Whether you are working or learning in a remote setting, or you are just paying the bills, every Pennsylvanian needs adequate high-speed internet access to complete tasks in an efficient manner,” said Wentling. “I am grateful to see this grant program exist so residents in the district I’m honored to serve can receive the necessary help.”

The funding will be used toward expanding the company’s high-speed broadband network to 65 households in Girard Township, Erie County, by installing wireline broadband service. The new infrastructure will provide speeds of at least 30 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 4 Mbps upload and with maximum speeds of 1,000 Mbps download and 35 Mbps upload.  

The UHSB Funding Program was created by the Legislature to provide grants to deploy middle-mile and last-mile high-speed broadband infrastructure to unserved areas in Pennsylvania. An unserved area is defined as a designated geographic area in which households or businesses do not have access to at least 25 megabits per second downstream speeds and 3 megabits per second upstream speeds.

Funds may be used for acquisition, construction, equipment and site preparation costs associated with the deployment of middle-mile and last-mile high-speed broadband infrastructure. The grant was awarded through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.