What Does a $290 Million Broadband Boost Mean for Ohio?

(TNS) — After the pandemic exposed Ohio's gaping digital divide last year, Gov.  Mike DeWine  and Lt. Gov.  Jon Husted  recommended the legislature spend $290 million toward broadband expansion — the largest state investment in internet infrastructure — in the next two-year state budget.

The investment will establish a one-time $250 million initiative, the Ohio Residential Broadband Grant Program, to expand access across the state in 2022 and 2023.

"The largest portion of this money will be about building broadband access for people who don't have it," Husted said.

Approximately 1 million Ohioans live without internet access, The Columbus Dispatch detailed in an in-depth report last October. The majority of those without service live in rural Ohio.

Husted, who was an early proponent of House Bill 13 — a piece of legislation the Statehouse failed to pass last year that would have created a $20 million broadband grant program — has advocated for statewide expansion extensively.

The lieutenant governor told reporters during Monday's press conference he's traveled across the state, visiting rural communities where siblings squabble over who gets to log in to Zoom classes and parents don't have the option of working from home.

"They can't participate in the modern economy, the modern education system, the modern health care system without it," he said.

Unprecedented investment

The broadband grants will target access and affordability — issues that have plagued Appalachia long before COVID-19 hit.

"We don't have time to wait around," Husted added. "The time is now."

The $250 million program would be broken into two $125 million installments in 2022 and 2023. The remaining $40 million would be allocated toward two $20 million residential broadband expansion grants in 2022 and 2023, according to details released Monday.

In comparison, the state only invested $905,000 in previous broadband-related allocations over the last three years.

More: Bill to expand broadband in Ohio dies at Statehouse; Husted eyes satellite technology

Husted explained Ohio will get the best return on their dollars by ensuring telecommunication companies that services are cost-competitive while also enforcing that those providers deploy high-quality and high-speed internet.

State funds would help counties draw down federal money

If the legislature passes DeWine and Husted's broadband budgetary recommendations, Ohio will be much more competitive for future federal grants, broadband consultant  Tom Reid  said.

A statewide grant program in combination with last year's $170 million investment from the FCC — that will expand access to 191,000 homes and businesses in Ohio over the next 10 years — would make a huge dent, said Reid, who works with Buckeye Hills Regional Council, a coalition of local governments that serves eight Ohio Appalachian counties.

Reid explained that federal agencies like the NTIA ( National Telecommunications and Information Administration), USDA and Appalachian Regional Commission require local communities to match anywhere between 25%-40% of a grant, which is nearly impossible.

Last year when Buckeye Hills tried to secure the village of Amesville a broadband grant through the Appalachian Regional Commission, Reid said they couldn't meet the agency's 30% match.

It would ultimately take $2.3 billion and 45,000 miles of optic-fiber cables to replace decrepit copper wires and install broadband across Appalachia Ohio, Reid said.

But such a significant commitment from the state would bring Ohio closer to bridging the digital divide, he said.

"It would be a huge win."

(c)2021 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.