Broadband Expansion Turning Into ‘Jobs Program,’ Leaving Rural Residents Behind

Pennsylvania is looking at $1.6 billion to expand broadband to rural and overlooked parts of the state, but experts are warning that the process puts the government in the way of success. Pennsylvania, too, may face hurdles that other states simply don’t. “One thing keeps getting in the way, and it’s called government,” Huntingdon County Commissioner Jeff Thomas told lawmakers during a House GOP Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday. Local, state and federal governments, he said, undermined each other and put a stop to getting more towers up and fiber-optic cables in the ground.