Connect Ohio Applauds $118 Million in Federal Funding for Three State Broadband Projects
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2010
Contact: Chris Pugh
614-220-0190 or cpugh@connectohio.org
COLUMBUS – Three Ohio broadband projects by Connect Ohio, OneCommunity, and Horizon Telecom will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The awards are among the 94 Recovery Act investments in broadband projects announced today by Vice President Biden that will create jobs and expand economic opportunities within 37 states.
A total of $118 million will be used for the Ohio projects to build sustainable broadband adoption, public computing capacity, and broadband infrastructure across the state.
"We're excited about the investments the federal government has made to directly benefit Ohioans," Connect Ohio Executive Director Tom Fritz said. "Our research shows three million state residents don't currently use home-based broadband services and today's announcement will help to bridge the gap and bring broadband’s benefits to thousands of new Ohio families and small businesses."
Governor Ted Strickland established Connect Ohio in 2007 to help extend affordable high-speed Internet service to Ohio households and community institutions. The Connect Ohio initiative was brought in to work with providers, libraries, and community organizations in each county to identify projects that could ensure Ohio’s full participation in today’s digital economy. Across the state, communities identified the need for more complete broadband access and for additional training and awareness programs. The combination of infrastructure and training grants will help to enable those goals, statewide.
"These awards support our plan to create a seamless broadband infrastructure throughout Ohio,” Strickland said. “Comprehensive Internet access is one part of our strategy to lay the groundwork for Ohio's long-term economic growth and improve Ohio's business environment. … access to high-speed Internet is increasingly essential for businesses and is a gateway to connecting our students with the world. I want to thank the Obama administration and our Ohio Congressional leaders for their continued support of our goal to make sure that every part of Ohio has access to high-speed Internet services.”
“I'm excited to see how various entities have worked together to secure this funding,” Policy Advisor to the State CIO Katrina Flory said. “The state will see an economic benefit from added infrastructure, education, and public computing capacity.”
The Ohio projects that received awards are:
One Community, ($44.8 million): Today’s grant will fund 64% of the nearly $70 million fiber optic network construction project titled “Transforming Northeast Ohio: From Rust Belt to Tech Powerhouse,” which will serve 20 counties across Northeast Ohio. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI) program, will add nearly 1,000 miles of fiber-optic cable to the OneCommunity network.
“Together, we have created a truly unique, open, state-wide fiber network that will serve the needs of our local community providers and bring high-speed broadband services to all Ohioans – ensuring we have the ability to compete in the global economy,” OneCommunity President & CEO Scott Rourke said. “This project will position Ohio as a national leader in deployed broadband infrastructure, opening the door for the attraction of significant outside corporate investment and local community benefit. Once completed, Ohio will possess a unique environment for the design, development, testing and deployment of advanced e-government, telemedicine, biotech, and twenty-first century learning applications.”
Horizon, ($66.5 million): An NTIA grant will fund 70% of a $94.9 million fiber optic network construction project which will connect Ohio's Appalachian counties. The project, designated the Connecting Appalachian Ohio Middle Mile Consortium (CAOMMC), will provide high-capacity broadband services with speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second over a 1,960-mile network to approximately 600 regional community anchor institutions, including 212 healthcare facilities, 25 community colleges, 15 universities, 231 K-12 schools, 34 county public safety answering points, 32 MARCS towers, and 34 industrial parks. Currently, more than 80% of those facilities lack fiber-based broadband access and/or the necessary minimum speeds to match their Internet needs.
“Horizon is both grateful and excited that the NTIA recognized the importance of deploying an advanced broadband backbone in Appalachian Ohio and chose to help fund this valuable project,” Horizon CEO Bill McKell said. “Horizon looks forward to using this network to meet the broadband needs of the regional community anchor institutions and businesses serving the communities in these counties.”
Connect Ohio, ($6.9 million): The grant will fund a portion of the organization's $10 million Ohio Public Adoption Through Libraries/Every Community Online Adoption Project, which offers free computer training sessions at public libraries and community colleges throughout Ohio and is expected to immediately create 136 jobs, train 209,000 consumers over two years, and inspire a total of 75,000 new households to adopt broadband. Public computing capacity will also be enhanced by the placement of more than 2,000 new public computers that will be distributed to dozens of public library and community college locations across the state along with the necessary curriculum to be used in the training program.
# # #
Connect Ohio, a division of Connected Nation, is a nonprofit, technology-neutral public-private partnership that works with telecommunications providers, business and community leaders, information technology companies, researchers, public agencies, libraries and universities in an effort to help extend affordable high-speed Internet service to every Ohio household. For more information about what Connect Ohio is doing to accelerate technology in Ohio's communities, visit http://www.connectohio.org
August 18, 2010
Contact: Chris Pugh
614-220-0190 or cpugh@connectohio.org
COLUMBUS – Three Ohio broadband projects by Connect Ohio, OneCommunity, and Horizon Telecom will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The awards are among the 94 Recovery Act investments in broadband projects announced today by Vice President Biden that will create jobs and expand economic opportunities within 37 states.
A total of $118 million will be used for the Ohio projects to build sustainable broadband adoption, public computing capacity, and broadband infrastructure across the state.
"We're excited about the investments the federal government has made to directly benefit Ohioans," Connect Ohio Executive Director Tom Fritz said. "Our research shows three million state residents don't currently use home-based broadband services and today's announcement will help to bridge the gap and bring broadband’s benefits to thousands of new Ohio families and small businesses."
Governor Ted Strickland established Connect Ohio in 2007 to help extend affordable high-speed Internet service to Ohio households and community institutions. The Connect Ohio initiative was brought in to work with providers, libraries, and community organizations in each county to identify projects that could ensure Ohio’s full participation in today’s digital economy. Across the state, communities identified the need for more complete broadband access and for additional training and awareness programs. The combination of infrastructure and training grants will help to enable those goals, statewide.
"These awards support our plan to create a seamless broadband infrastructure throughout Ohio,” Strickland said. “Comprehensive Internet access is one part of our strategy to lay the groundwork for Ohio's long-term economic growth and improve Ohio's business environment. … access to high-speed Internet is increasingly essential for businesses and is a gateway to connecting our students with the world. I want to thank the Obama administration and our Ohio Congressional leaders for their continued support of our goal to make sure that every part of Ohio has access to high-speed Internet services.”
“I'm excited to see how various entities have worked together to secure this funding,” Policy Advisor to the State CIO Katrina Flory said. “The state will see an economic benefit from added infrastructure, education, and public computing capacity.”
The Ohio projects that received awards are:
One Community, ($44.8 million): Today’s grant will fund 64% of the nearly $70 million fiber optic network construction project titled “Transforming Northeast Ohio: From Rust Belt to Tech Powerhouse,” which will serve 20 counties across Northeast Ohio. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI) program, will add nearly 1,000 miles of fiber-optic cable to the OneCommunity network.
“Together, we have created a truly unique, open, state-wide fiber network that will serve the needs of our local community providers and bring high-speed broadband services to all Ohioans – ensuring we have the ability to compete in the global economy,” OneCommunity President & CEO Scott Rourke said. “This project will position Ohio as a national leader in deployed broadband infrastructure, opening the door for the attraction of significant outside corporate investment and local community benefit. Once completed, Ohio will possess a unique environment for the design, development, testing and deployment of advanced e-government, telemedicine, biotech, and twenty-first century learning applications.”
Horizon, ($66.5 million): An NTIA grant will fund 70% of a $94.9 million fiber optic network construction project which will connect Ohio's Appalachian counties. The project, designated the Connecting Appalachian Ohio Middle Mile Consortium (CAOMMC), will provide high-capacity broadband services with speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second over a 1,960-mile network to approximately 600 regional community anchor institutions, including 212 healthcare facilities, 25 community colleges, 15 universities, 231 K-12 schools, 34 county public safety answering points, 32 MARCS towers, and 34 industrial parks. Currently, more than 80% of those facilities lack fiber-based broadband access and/or the necessary minimum speeds to match their Internet needs.
“Horizon is both grateful and excited that the NTIA recognized the importance of deploying an advanced broadband backbone in Appalachian Ohio and chose to help fund this valuable project,” Horizon CEO Bill McKell said. “Horizon looks forward to using this network to meet the broadband needs of the regional community anchor institutions and businesses serving the communities in these counties.”
Connect Ohio, ($6.9 million): The grant will fund a portion of the organization's $10 million Ohio Public Adoption Through Libraries/Every Community Online Adoption Project, which offers free computer training sessions at public libraries and community colleges throughout Ohio and is expected to immediately create 136 jobs, train 209,000 consumers over two years, and inspire a total of 75,000 new households to adopt broadband. Public computing capacity will also be enhanced by the placement of more than 2,000 new public computers that will be distributed to dozens of public library and community college locations across the state along with the necessary curriculum to be used in the training program.
# # #
Connect Ohio, a division of Connected Nation, is a nonprofit, technology-neutral public-private partnership that works with telecommunications providers, business and community leaders, information technology companies, researchers, public agencies, libraries and universities in an effort to help extend affordable high-speed Internet service to every Ohio household. For more information about what Connect Ohio is doing to accelerate technology in Ohio's communities, visit http://www.connectohio.org
Labels: broadband, broadband stimulus, Connect Ohio, Ohio
posted by Connect Ohio at
4:55 AM
