Governor Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) Executive Director Brandon Carson visited Bald Eagle High School in Centre County to announce more than $448 million in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants have been awarded to projects in 50 counties across the Commonwealth. This is the first round of awards after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved more than $711 million in BEAD funding for Pennsylvania in April.
“I promised to connect every Pennsylvanian to high-speed, affordable internet by the end of the decade, and my Administration is working quickly to drive out hundreds of millions of dollars to meet that timeline,” said Governor Shapiro. “In the 21st century, reliable and affordable internet can’t just be a luxury for some ― connecting more Pennsylvanians to the internet will help kids achieve more in school, small business owners connect with potential customers, and families see the doctor when they can’t travel.”
The funding will support broadband projects that include a diverse mix of technologies including fiber and fixed wireless, for use in long-term leases; multi-family residential deployment; planning, design, and engineering; personnel costs; physical improvements; and network software upgrades. There is no minimum or maximum grant amount for any project, however, projects require matching a minimum 25 percent share of the total project cost.
The Governor also announced the creation of a new website allowing Pennsylvanians who do not yet have access to high-speed internet to track when PBDA estimates they’ll receive a connection here. That website is available at pa.gov/ConnectPA.
“Access to high-speed internet has become an essential part of life,” said PBDA Executive Director Carson. “Everything from education, banking, and even healthcare depends on access to online resources and a high-speed connection. The projects announced today will connect thousands of Pennsylvanians and rural locations in every region of the Commonwealth to reliable, high-speed infrastructure.”
Pennsylvania was originally allocated $1.16 billion in BEAD funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and established the BEAD program in accordance with NTIA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity, NTIA’s BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice, and Pennsylvania’s Act 96 of 2021.
As part of the updated requirements issued by the NTIA in 2025, today’s announcement includes the following agreements finalized by PBDA:
- Central Bradford Progress Authority
- Centre WISP Venture Company
- Commonwealth Telephone Company (doing business as Frontier Communications)
- Connect Holdings (doing business as Brightspeed)
- CoreConnect
- eCommunity Holdings
- IBT Group USA
- Upward Broadband
- Verizon Pennsylvania and Verizon North
A full list of today’s BEAD awards is available here.
