Gaining broadband access

WHIZ

Nearly 1,400 homes in Appalachia Ohio will soon trade in their dial-up service for broadband access.

18th District US Congressman Zack Space says a USDA grant of more than $4 million has been awarded for that project.

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Funding awarded to expand Pike Co. broadband service

Chillicothe Gazette

The latest round of stimulus act funding for broadband Internet expansion will benefit Pike County.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week announced 126 new broadband infrastructure projects will receive funding across 38 states, including five in Ohio. One of the Ohio awards worth $1.448 million will go to Southern Ohio Communication Services Inc. to provide broadband and Voice Over Internet Protocol services to unserved and underserved populations in Pike County.

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Federal Grant to Bring Broadband Service to Kinsman

WKBN-TV

Five Ohio broadband projects, funded by Recovery Act Investments, have received $14.4 million to expand service to rural areas across the state including Kinsman.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said the money will help create jobs in seven rural counties and extend broadband service to those areas left underserved by the industry.

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$4.1M grant to Sycamore company to provide broadband

Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune

Three area villages are to get an increase in broadband Internet services thanks to a $4.1 million grant to Sycamore Telephone Co. from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday the USDA is investing $1.2 billion in 126 broadband infrastructure projects in 38 states and Native American tribal areas through funding made available through the American Recovery and Stimulus Act.

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US agency announces $1.2 billion in broadband subsidies

IDG News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has announced $1.2 billion in grants and loans for 126 broadband deployment projects in 38 states and tribal areas.

The new awards, announced Wednesday, include grants for WiMax deployments, for fiber deployments and for DSL deployments. The RUS has now distributed more than $2.6 billion in broadband grants and loans through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a huge economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress in early 2009.

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Unraveling Ohio's new phone rules

Columbus Dispatch

Back in 1989, if you made a phone call, Ma Bell probably put it through.

Things have changed since then, and last month, the state law that governs telecommunications in Ohio changed, too.

The Ohio Telecommunications Modernization Act - "common-sense regulatory reform," in the view of Gov. Ted Strickland - takes effect Sept. 12. It replaces legislation that's been on the books since 1989, the last time telecom regulation was comprehensively considered. That's light-years ago in terms of changes in the industry, with more people migrating from landlines to cell phones, and more companies bundling phone service with cable TV and the like.

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Rural K-12 schools, colleges to get broadband

Columbus Dispatch

A state public-private partnership has been awarded $30 million in federal stimulus money to extend broadband service to 28 western Ohio counties that have been underserved.

"A strong technology backbone is essential for our rural communities to be competitive in business and for our students to take advantage of digital learning," Gov. Ted Strickland said in a written statement.

The money will be used to build more than 700 miles of high-capacity fiber that will directly link rural and underserved communities, including K-12 schools, state and local government offices, health-care facilities, community colleges and universities.

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Obama mentions broadband stimulus during Ohio visit

Washington Post

President Obama traveled to swing state Ohio Friday to showcase the stimulus measure he pushed through Congress 16 months ago -- a sign the administration is fretting over enduring criticism that the $787 billion package has failed to generate enough jobs.

Obama presided over the inauguration of a highway construction project in Columbus. The administration says it is the 10,000th road project to begin with stimulus money, one of many milestones it intends to mark throughout the summer and heading into the fall mid-term election season.

He promoted clean energy, broadband Internet, and other investments to encourage new areas of economic growth - "not the infrastructure that we inherited from our parents and our grandparents."