TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) The fight for adequate rural broadband continues Thursday with Governor Tom Wolf taking his case to Bradford County.
As part of his Restore Pennsylvania initiative, Wolf made a stop at Towanda Area School District.
Pennsylvania Office of Broadband Initiative has found that Bradford and Susquehanna Counties are the worst areas for broadband connectivity in the state. Governor Wolf agrees and took a plan Thursday to the district’s high school. Wolf talked about how this area in particular, lacks the access to “robust, reliable, high-speed internet.”
“This school district right now is trying to do things to connect their students to the 21 century, they need broadband. Without that they can’t do those things,” said Gov. Wolf.
In January Wolf announced a massive rebuilding plan to invest $4.5 billion in flood prevention, fighting blight, and expanding broadband to all 13 million Pennsylvanians.
The Governor is pushing for a severance tax on gas drilling to pay for the programs which would be implemented over the next four years.
The Central Bradford Progress Authority has secured a $5 million grant from the state to increase fiber optics in the county. To complete the $10 million project County Commissioners matched the grant.
It’s unknown when that project will start or be completed.
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