|
[ About the Program ] [ 2010 Activities ] [ Testimonial ]
About The Program
The Pennsylvania Telecommunications Act 183 created The Broadband Outreach and Aggregation Fund (BOAF), which is a vehicle whereby the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) will develop outreach programs concerning the benefits, use and procurement of broadband services, as well as aggregating customer demand in communities with no service. Most of Pennsylvania currently has sufficient broadband available; however, because of low population density and physical remoteness, many rural areas do not. The ultimate goal is to expand affordable broadband services to communities that do not currently have access to these modern services. This goal will be accomplished through educational outreach and customer aggregation at a community and carrier service area (CSA) level through the Bona Fide Retail Request Program (BFRR). Act 183 requires service providers to give their Pennsylvania customers an opportunity to complete a BFRR for high-speed Internet service, which could expedite service deployment to that area. Under this program, if a CSA is able to collect a certain number of (BFRR) forms, the service provider is then required to install high-speed Internet service within 365 days. The number of forms required is a total of 50 or 25 percent of the residential customers in that service area, whichever is less.
SPC will help communities aggregate the demand for broadband service and require Internet Service Provider (ISP) companies to respond to the new demand for services in a more timely fashion. SPC will identify one “sparkplug” in each community who is willing to aggregate broadband demand. The sparkplug will promote the project, talk to fellow community members about the benefits of broadband access, initiate a grassroots movement to aggregate demand, and sign up community members to purchase future broadband services. In order to make this project successful, the sparkplug must have the time and passion for this project.
The area covered by this outreach and aggregation project includes nine (9) counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Washington, and Westmoreland. The goals are to expand broadband service, promote competition, and provide the most effective and efficient broadband service to communities within the region.
Below are the BFRR forms for the companies that provide telephone and broadband service in the region. If you have any questions regarding who provides your service or how to bring broadband service into your area, please contact Ryan Falcone at 412-391-5590 x348 or rfalcone@spcregion.org.
Newpa.com offers a service where you can search by county or zip code to determine if either DSL or wireless service (not cable modem) is available to you. To more accurately determine what broadband service is available at your address, contact both your local telephone company and your local cable provider.
For additional information regarding the BFRR program, please click here.
[ top ]
2010 Activities
Access to affordable broadband Internet service is important to quality of life in the new economy. Government, healthcare and educational services are being delivered faster and more efficiently than ever before due to the speed and ease with which information can be shared on the web.
Market trends suggest that Internet service has become nearly as established in households as TV’s and air-conditioning. However, many households in underserved areas are falling behind due to limited opportunities for businesses to locate and stay in these communities and for families to access needed information.
While the majority of Southwestern Pennsylvania has access to broadband, there are areas where this service has yet to be deployed. Many of these areas lack coverage as a result of low population density and the prohibitive cost to providers for extending their services to these potential customers.
As a result of Act 183 (PA 2004), Internet service providers are working with organizations like SPC to aggregate demand in these underserved areas. SPC offers individuals in underserved areas logistical and administrative support as they attempt to bring local neighbors and businesses together to create a market conducive for extending broadband infrastructure to their area; this is referred to as aggregation of demand.
SPC has done this by educating stakeholders in these areas about the benefits of broadband and to the processes available to them to work with their local provider. SPC has hosted several events designed to help individual “sparkplugs” get their neighbors together to form contractual aggregates to compel providers to deliver the service per the Act 183 mandate.
This year, SPC has focused service in communities within Fayette and Indiana counties. Over the past several years we have seen customer service areas in Indiana and Fayette County extended as a result of our efforts.
[ top ]
Testimonial
In 2009, SPC achieved another successful Bona Fide Retail Request story. SPC was instrumental in creating a dialogue with CenturyLink and the residents of Cherry Township. With the assistance from SPC, the deployment planning process is now ongoing and the residents of Cherry Township are now scheduled to receive broadband service. This process owes its success to the combined efforts of local officials, SPC and most importantly, the concerned local citizens of Cherry Township.
"All of us on Redbrush Road thank you for your assistance in contacting Embarq (CenturyLink) and getting us in touch with people that could give us more details, it has been a pleasure."
-- William Mottern, Cherry Township "Sparkplug"
[ top ]
For questions about Broadband Outreach & Aggregation, contact Lew Villotti at (412) 391-5590 x302 or e-mail lewvillotti@spcregion.org.
[ top ]
|
