HARRISBURG – Senator Wayne Langerholc Jr. (R-35) and Rep. Tommy Sankey (R-Clearfield/Cambria) on Thursday announced that Comcast has completed the extension of its high-speed broadband network in portions of southern Clearfield County and northern Cambria County months ahead of schedule, providing better broadband access to thousands of residents in their districts.
As a result of Comcast’s investment, Langerholc said 3,900 residential customers now have access to all Xfinity services, including residential gigabit broadband service, and businesses will receive the full suite of Comcast Business products and services, including Ethernet network speeds up to 100 Gigabits-per-second.
The new and improved broadband is now available to the boroughs of Coalport, Glen Hope and Irvona and the township of Beccaria in Clearfield County and the townships of Chest, White, Dean, Clearfield and Reade in Cambria County.
“I would like to thank Comcast for making this important investment in our area and bringing the project in ahead of schedule,” said Langerholc.
“I’m grateful Comcast has taken positive steps to assist the residents of these areas particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to high-speed broadband is crucial to so many people, including students, fire and EMS personnel, small businesses and health care professionals.”
“One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has made painfully obvious is the need to create pathways that connect unserved and underserved areas of our Commonwealth with vital services they need in their everyday lives,” Sankey said.
“This decision by Comcast is not about enabling these portions of Cambria and Clearfield counties to download movies. It is about providing a bridge to educational materials for their children, access to emergency service providers in time of need and connections to growth opportunities that to this point did not exist inside our present communications infrastructure.”
“We are pleased to complete this important project well ahead of schedule and have had overwhelmingly positive response to the expansion of our broadband footprint in these areas of Clearfield and Cambria counties,” said Toni Murphy, senior vice president of Comcast’s Keystone Region.
Langerholc was prime sponsor of Act 132 of 2020, which creates the Unserved High-Speed Broadband Funding Program to provide grants in support of broadband expansion in areas most in need of services.
The $5 million grant program is administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Eligible applicants for this program include nongovernmental entities with the ability to operate broadband services through wireline or fixed wireless technology, which can include rural electric cooperatives and local development districts.
At least 25 percent of funding for a project must come from the nongovernmental entity, not counting state or local grants, loans or subsidies.