The Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit 9 (IU9) has reached an agreement with Zito Business to improve technology access to regional schools. The new five-year contracts increase available bandwidth for teaching and learning by 3 Gigabits per second to 21 local schools while saving local taxpayers $110,000.

“Inflation is squeezing school budgets across the region,” said Brock Benson, Executive Director of IU9. “That’s why we are especially pleased to announce this long-term agreement that actually reduces technology costs for local schools.”

The contracts with Zito Business were awarded after a competitive procurement process conducted by Dellicker Strategies, a Lehigh Valley based technology services company. IU9 has been working with Dellicker for 18 years to improve their technology infrastructure.

Zito Business is a Coudersport-based company that has become a national leader in delivering high-speed broadband access in rural areas. “This project proves that private companies investing their own capital can effectively bridge the digital divide,” said James Rigas, Zito Media’s President. “If we can serve northern Pennsylvania, we can serve anywhere.”

IU9 has been providing Internet access and services to regional schools for more than two decades. In 2005, IU9 organized local districts in a purchasing consortium for Internet access. One of the first initiatives of its kind in Pennsylvania, the project combined the buying power of regional districts to incentivize broadband investment and reduce costs.

“It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come,” said Ed Bell, Director of Technology at IU9. Mr. Bell has been a part of this since 2009. Before the consortium, regional districts paid an average of $970 per month for 2.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) of Internet access. Today, they pay $938 per month for 1,063 Mbps. That’s 425 times the bandwidth for eight percent less money. “Not a bad deal,” said Mr. Bell.

Some of those cost reductions are due to changing market conditions, explained Mr. Bell. But IU9 has achieved remarkable success in the most rural parts of Pennsylvania negotiating pricing and service levels that are comparable to the best deals in the biggest cities.   Mr. Bell credits the cohesiveness of the consortium, “This is an example of what can happen when our 14 regional school districts serviced by IU9 work together to solve the challenge of needing reliable internet at a competitive price.”

Districts aren’t required to cooperate on technology purchases, explained Mr. Bell. They can negotiate their own agreements or conduct their own procurements. But they work together with IU9 because it promotes technology investment while benefiting students and taxpayers alike. “The schools work together because it produces results,” said Mr. Bell.

The districts began taking delivery of the new service on July 1, 2023.