Lack of high-speed Web access will hurt business, panel says

Telecommunications is now as necessary to development as utilities, he said.
SHARON, Pa. (AP) -- High-speed Internet access in northwestern Pennsylvania is "spotty" and its inconsistency is taking a toll on the region's economic growth, according to members of the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission.
Communities around larger cities have two or three broadband options, including digital subscriber lines (DSL), cable modems or high-speed wireless connections. But customers in more rural parts of the eight-county region access high-speed Internet through just one provider, commission technology development coordinator Chris Beichner said.
Cost of broadband
As a result, the cost of broadband service in the region -- which includes Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties -- ranges from $30 a month to $50 a month, Beichner said. In addition, while the broadband service currently available is suitable for surfing the Web, it might not be adequate for future applications, the commission said.
The region's existing broadband service will be an obstacle when it comes to attracting new businesses, improving health care and enhancing residents' quality of life, according to a commission study released in January.
"If you didn't have a basic water and sewer infrastructure in northwest Pennsylvania, you're not going to attract new businesses, you're not going to even sustain current businesses," Beichner said. "The same is true now with telecommunications. And if some people haven't realized that, they will in the next two to five years. Telecommunications is a necessity, not a luxury anymore."
Business hurt
Mike Geotz, the founder of Veteran Employment Enterprise in Tionesta, said the region's lack of high-speed Internet options has hurt his fledgling business.
Geotz uses the Internet to communicate to machine shops in Crawford County, and his employees, often disabled veterans, use the Internet to work from home. But he's found that many potential employees can't afford or don't have access to broadband and he's had problems with his own service.
"I had to drive 40 miles to drop off materials at a machine shop because they couldn't download it using dial-up," Geotz said.
Some Internet service providers in northwestern Pennsylvania, however, said most residents and business owners have plenty of options.
Most customers in the region have their pick between dial-up, DSL, cable modems and wireless connections, said Mike Mong, a sales manager for USA Choice Internet, a wireless and high-speed dial-up provider to 24 counties in Pennsylvania.
Some broadband options, however, aren't available in the far reaches of the region because the demand isn't there. Until there's a larger customer base, companies can't justify spending the money to build the infrastructure, Mong said.
USA Choice recently decided to expand its services into two northwestern Pennsylvania areas, but only after the company held town meetings and signed up a certain number of customers, he said.
"We've been burned too many times by putting in the service and not having enough customers to keep the service going," Mong said.
The seven local development districts in the state have come up with a four-year, $2.4 million plan to make affordable broadband access available throughout rural Pennsylvania, seeking half of the money from the state and the other half from the federal government, Beichner said.
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