Why is AT&T building a new 5G cellular site in Hooversville?

HOOVERSVILLE ― A new 5G cellular site now under construction in the borough will provide more convenient and potentially life- and property-saving wireless access for residents, businesses and emergency personnel, according to representatives from AT&T and local officials.

Dave Kerr, president of AT&T Pennsylvania, along with state Rep. Carl Metzgar; Joel Landis, director of Somerset County's Emergency Management Agency; Chad Maurer, chief of the Hooversville Volunteer Fire Department; and Jesse Boncoski, Hooversville Borough council member, announced to the public Friday afternoon that construction is underway on the new cellular site, located along Charles Street in the borough, near the POS of A cemetery.

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Work at the site began right before Thanksgiving, and construction is expected to take about 12 to 18 months to complete, depending on the weather and other factors, Kerr said in an exclusive interview on Thursday with the Daily American.

“The site has been in the planning stages, and it’s an extensive planning process, but we’re very pleased to have broken ground on the site,” he said. “It’s certainly going to improve coverage in that area. This will be welcome news to the area, we believe.

“Obviously, we will try to move this forward as fast as possible.”

How will this site benefit the community?

In addition to improving mobile phone coverage in and around Hooversville, the 285-foot cellular tower will allow county and local emergency personnel to access AT&T’s FirstNet nationwide high-speed communications network for public safety agencies, according to a release provided by AT&T.

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Landis said he has been talking to AT&T for five years about the need for access to the FirstNet network in Hooversville, and an incident in the borough this year confirmed that need.

“We rely not only on the voice communication that this brings, but the data capability as well,” he wrote in an email to the Daily American. “Earlier this year, I responded to a hazmat incident in Hooversville and was unable to access my mobile data terminal in order to better effectively manage the hazmat portion of the scene.

“The new tower will prevent that lack of communication in the future. Hooversville has had its share of disasters, such as severe flooding in the early 1990s. Since then, we tend to rely on our voice and data connections. The outcome of a disaster of that magnitude will be positively impacted by having readily available voice and data connections.”

At Friday's public announcement, Hooversville Borough Police Chief Jonathan Wolf and Chad Maurer, fire chief, agreed that the lack of cell service in the borough is an obstacle in their efforts to provide police and fire protection for the community.

"I'm very thankful and grateful that we'll eventually have cell service here.," Wolf said. "It can be difficult, and sometimes dangerous, not having cell service as a police officer, so this is a very good thing."

Maurer added: "We're very honored to have cell phone service here, especially with the fire service, with nothing down here (now) if we need to make phone calls. When the (Holy Family Catholic Church's social hall) burned three years ago, you were standing on one leg trying to get cell service to make a phone call, to get the resources we needed there. It will be a very welcome sight to have cell service here in Hooversville."

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Kerr said AT&T is constantly evaluating where to add cellular sites in the region and takes customer feedback such as Landis’ seriously in making those decisions.

In September, AT&T completed and began operations on a 5G cellular site along Hagevo Road in Paint Township, and another site in New Centerville went into operation in 2021.

“We take feedback from our customers and look where our customer usage is,” Kerr said. “We know the challenge of constructing sites in Somerset County, where there are significant elevation issues and other issues. But the need is there.

“We are very pleased to be able to pull this together, along with others in Somerset County.”

AT&T has invested more than $1 billion in its wireless and wireline networks in Pennsylvania from 2020-22, the company's release said.

"This (Hooversville site) is an example of that investment," Kerr added.

Landis said he hopes that one or more wireless sites can next be added in southern Somerset County.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: AT&T building a new 5G cellular site in Hooversville