Legislation recently introduced in the state House would repeal the Mobile Telecommunications Broadband Investment Tax Credit.
The credit is available to mobile telecommunication providers to invest in broadband equipment in Pennsylvania and is limited to $5 million annually.
Under House Bill 2348, the $5 million instead would be directed toward the Unserved High-Speed Broadband Funding Program, which would be administered by the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
The bill also allows state and federal funding to be directed to the account and used for grant awards. Local development districts, rural electric cooperatives, and nongovernmental entities with broadband service infrastructure expertise would be eligible for the grants.
Any nongovernmental group would be required to invest at least 25 percent of the project cost.
The bill was introduced by Reps. Martin Causer (R-Cameron/McKean/Potter) and George Dunbar (R-Westmoreland) and 20 cosponsors.
“Access to high-speed internet is not a luxury but a necessity for our students and teachers, our farmers and business owners, and our doctors and patients,” Causer said. “This proposal will address one of the biggest challenges to broadband expansion by providing some much-needed funding for the unserved and underserved areas of the Commonwealth.”
Preference would be given to projects in unserved areas as defined by the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum speed requirements.