CenturyLink, Cincinnati Bell, AT&T, Frontier Communications, FairPoint Communications and Windstream Communications have all accepted Federal Communication Commission funding in the form of annual subsidies to offer broadband service to rural homes and businesses that are currently not being served.
Overall, carriers in Ohio will get $58.5 million in annual support to serve 166,967 homes and businesses.
The funding is needed because nearly 1 in 3 rural Americans lack access to broadband service, compared with only 1 in 100 urban Americans, according to the FCC’s latest Broadband Progress Report.
The broadband service is intended to ensure universal telephone coverage as companies phase out traditional landline service as well as add Internet service to areas where the cost of providing such service would otherwise be prohibitive.
“Access to modern broadband is critical to life in today’s society,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, in a statement. “The financial support provided by American ratepayers through the Connect America program is an investment in the future of our rural communities that will pay dividends for all Americans for years to come.”
The funding will subsidize the construction of broadband networks in rural areas over the next six years. Forty percent of the work must be done by the end of 2017; 100 percent by the end of 2020.
The funding will “dramatically alter the broadband landscape in Ohio and throughout the country,” said Lindsay Shanahan, executive director of Connect Ohio, a nonprofit that promotes broadband access in the state.
“This phase of the Connect America Fund is about deploying broadband to locations that do not have it, not the removal of legacy infrastructure (such as existing landline phone service) or a possible transition to Internet protocol-based networks,” she said.
“Recipients of this funding are required to build out broadband and voice networks that meet various criteria beyond the obligation to upgrade or build networks capable of broadband,” Shanahan said.
The biggest amount of funding is going to CenturyLink, which will take $505.7 million annually to expand and support broadband for more than 2.3?million of its rural customers across the United States. In Ohio, CenturyLink will take $16?million annually.
“CenturyLink’s acceptance of over half a billion dollars from the Connect America Fund represents a huge investment in broadband for its rural customers,” Wheeler said. “This is the largest amount accepted by any company to date — and the opportunities that modern broadband will provide for the rural communities CenturyLink serves are priceless.”
Nationally, AT&T will take $427.7 million annually to expand and support broadband for more than 2.2 million of its rural customers. In Ohio, AT&T has accepted $14.8?million annually to serve more than 37,000 rural homes and businesses.
“AT&T is committed to rural and small-town America,” AT&T spokeswoman Holly Hollingsworth said, adding that company is “using all available technologies, including AT&T’s innovative fixed wireless program that delivers broadband through the air using base stations and fixed antennae on customers’ homes or buildings.”
Among other carriers, Frontier Communications will take more than $1.7?billion annually to upgrade its broadband network to more than 650,000 locations in 28 states. In Ohio, Frontier will take $22.9 million annually.
Cincinnati Bell will get $2.2 million annually to serve 7,084 homes and businesses in rural Kentucky and Ohio.
FairPoint Communications will get $37.4?million to serve approximately 105,000 locations in 14 states. In Ohio, FairPoint will take $421,000 annually.
Windstream Communications will get $175 million to serve approximately 400,000 rural locations in 17 states. In Ohio, Windstream will take $4.2 million annually.
A notable exception to the list: Verizon, which turned down an offer of $144 million.
While Verizon turned down the funding, the company will take $48.5?million annually on behalf of Frontier, which is buying some of Verizon’s systems in California and Texas.
©2015 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.