Note: Babel Fish is a
third-party resource and a computer translation of the original webpage. It
is provided for general information only and should not be regarded as complete
or accurate.
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.
In 2009, SPC assisted nine communities with the Bona Fide Retail Request process, and conducted eight broadband education sessions and six local leadership sessions. To help with outreach efforts, SPC identified four additional community representatives or "sparkplugs" to assist in promoting the Broadband project, talk to community members about the benefits of broadband access, initiate grassroots movement to aggregate demand, and sign up community members to purchase future broadband services.
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."
