Cove and County to See Improvements in Broadband

Homes in Cove townships in Blair County are poised to be connected to middle-mile fiber infrastructure by 2026.

This announcement comes as part of a nearly $2.5 million project funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), jointly undertaken by Allegheny Broadband Inc. (ABI) and Crowsnest Broadband.

Dwayne Zimmerman, owner and founder of Crowsnest, said that the federal government allocated $200 million in ARPA funds for Pennsylvania.

Following this allocation, the state invited applications from fiber and fixed wireless providers for various projects.

ABI and Crowsnest collaborated on a proposal to implement a “fiber to the home” project in Houston, Juniata, and North Woodbury townships, aiming to connect approximately 800 to 850 homes.

“It’ll be close to a $2.5 million project bringing middle-mile fiber to three of our towers and should connect around 800 to 850 homes,” Zimmerman said.

He also discussed Blair County’s commitment to providing matching funds for the project.

Middle-mile infrastructure, defined by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, encompasses broadband infrastructure that does not directly serve end-user locations.

Jeff Thomas, president and chairman of ABI, highlighted the completion of a related broadband project funded by ARPA money.

“The Blair County commissioners were kind enough to put up over a little over $300,000 in ARPA funds,” Thomas said.

Zimmerman described how existing sites were equipped with broadband infrastructure using ARPA funds.

“We did a lease with them,” Zimmerman said, referring to an old 9-1-1 communications tower owned by Blair County.

“We installed our equipment on that tower, and now it is being put to use for the community, and the county is collecting rent from us for that,” he said.

The expansion project affected a greater number of towers than initially planned.

Zimmerman said the collaborative effort to extend broadband coverage can be difficult, particularly in areas with challenging topography.

“Generally, what we do for the farmers in the agriculture communities, we give them free service in exchange for being able to install our equipment on their silos,” he said.

Blair County Commissioner Laura Burke said the broadband projects are examples of the positive effect of ARPA funds on communities.

“We’re seeing people being able to do their telemedicine, people being able to do their remote work and remote education in places where they couldn’t before,” Burke said.

The completion of the Blair ARPA expansion project was celebrated with enthusiasm by Zimmerman.

He expressed gratitude for the trust placed in the company by the Blair County commissioners, which allowed the initial investment to be leveraged into a larger-scale project.

The announcement of the broadband expansion project was made possible through the concerted efforts of various stakeholders, including Dustin Bishop, project manager, Larry Myers, a board member of ABI, Steve McKnight, president and CEO of ABCD Corp, and the Blair County commissioners.