Friday, February 14, 2003

High-speed link sought

County project pursues broadband Internet service

The county is looking to get wired.

As regional small businesses wait to transfer information over dial-up connections, an effort called the Schuylkill Broadband Connection Project is looking to help Schuylkill bridge the so-called digital divide by making available locally broadband Internet service at a reasonable cost.

The Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce and Schuylkill Economic Development Corp. (SEDCO) initiated the project in a bid to spur economic development by getting technology infrastructure in place.

Kevin W. Dellicker, president of Affinity Group, Harrisburg, a strategic consulting organization, illustrated via a Power Point presentation this week goals and expectations involving more accessible high-speed Internet connections during the Schuylkill chamber's breakfast meeting at the Pottsville Club.

Dellicker encouraged businesses to form a consortium of buyers for high-speed connections to lower the cost.

Establishing an greater interest in the technology will attract investors to develop a technology infrastructure that will attract for future development businesses that use the technology.

According to Dellicker nine out of the 10 fastest growing job opportunities involve the high-speed transfer of information. Not having readily available broadband service - dedicated, high-speed Internet access - will negatively impact the local economy.

He said two primary costs are involved in dedicated high-speed Internet lines, including the Internet plug-in fee and a cost for line and route.

With the nearest provider of the service - called Tier One Internet Service - being in Scranton, local consumers must pay for what is called the "backhaul fee" or the 60 miles of telephone line going directly into the Scranton provider.

But with increased infrastructure and more companies providing the access, costs will decrease, he said.

Despite the work involved, Schuylkill's broadband project is one of the first in the state.

"It's cutting edge," said Dellicker, who had been a technology policy adviser to former Gov. Tom Ridge. "Not a lot of people are tackling programs like this."

The project so far has seen success in Mahanoy City, where high-speed Internet service is available to small business owners.

Work between Dellicker and the Schuylkill chamber began last July when it was determined the current infrastructure needed an upgrade.

"He came in and did the feasibility study," chamber Executive Director David A. Donlin said of Dellicker.

"The finding were such that we couldn't let the current system exist," he added.

The county was cleared in December for a $150,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development as part of former Gov. Mark S. Schweiker's Digital Divide Initiative. The money will be used in a bid to close the county's technology gap.

The chamber is continuing to measure interest for the technology coalition, having sent communications to about 1,000 businesses. It will help gauge the local need, Donlin said.

Momentum for the project continues to build.

Mark A. Fanelli, Fountain Springs, president of American Computer Associates and Schuyl Inc., recently announced a partnership with Adelphia Business Solutions and plans to supply high-speed bandwidth on demand to county businesses.

Schuyl Inc. is offering broadband service to six areas in the county and plans to expand to six additional municipalities.

"This is one of the fasted moving projects," said Donlin, who added a plan for the entire county will unfold in the coming months.