News that work to build out a new broadband internet system in Pleasant Township is good news.

Allegheny Community Broadband has secured $2 million in public and private funding to build out the network, which is expected to serve 430 homes in Pleasant Township.

We’re sure there are some who feel the cost is too high. A 25-year loan will be paid with revenue generated by user payments, with the system to be owned by Pleasant Township once the loan is paid off. It’s a heavy lift when you think about it. The cost works out to about $4,730 a person for the 430 households this expansion is expected to serve. Extrapolate that throughout the rest of the county and the numbers boggle the mind.

It will be interesting to see if this type of investment is sustainable in Pleasant Township. We won’t know that for a couple of years when we see how many of the households who have the opportunity choose to sign up and if the price point for the local service allows those households to keep the service. It’s a risk, because once this loan is paid off, township officials are betting that user revenue will be strong enough to keep reinvesting in the system.

But the expansion of rural broadband brings so much potential to parts of our region — it can be a lifeline to businesses and employers open to creating more jobs, it can help rural Pennsylvania retain young workers needed to keep communities economically viable, it can augment the infrastructure so that elderly Pennsylvanians have better access to health care and vital services, it can keep rural public schools competitive. We believe broadband expansion is important — and especially critical for our more rural communities. But it’s equally critical not to bankrupt ourselves in pursuit of rural broadband access.