The combined effort of a private internet service provider and the Warren County Commissioners – along with some CARES Act funding – will bring broadband internet service to Grand Valley.

A total of $19,025 in federal COVID-19 relief funding was awarded by the commissioners for the project.

Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said MobileCom is in the process of entering the internet service provider space and is already working in Forest and Venango counties.

Kafferlin went around the county with a representative of the firm to look at “vertical assets” that could efficiently support the expansion of broadband.

Grand Valley was an area where it made sense.

Kafferlin said the service “would essentially beam the broadband to about a mile or so from the center of town” with the possibility to “daisy chain beyond that first mile.”

He noted there might not be a lot of “opportunity” elsewhere in the county for similar projects because of the placement of fiber lines and towers.

See Friday’s Times Observer for a full story on the effort.