The Brown County Connect Ohio committee got a dose of good news and bad news Tuesday. The good news is a new telecommunications company will be bringing broadband service to all areas in Ohio currently served by Verizon phone lines.
The bad news is, the service will not be fully operational until 2013.
Frontier Communications, a telecommunications company from Stamford, Conn., announced plans to purchase all of Verizon's land based phone lines in 14 states in May 2009. As part of their licensing agreement with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Frontier is required to make a commitment to bring broadband to their coverage areas in the state, according to Connect Ohio State Operations Manager Don Shirley.
"This is an important step towards providing residential and business customers in Ohio with expanded broadband availability and Frontier's enhanced products and services," said Dan McCarthy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Frontier in a press release. "Extending broadband reach and penetration is critical to revitalizing communities, improving business productivity and giving consumers faster access to the resources of the Internet. Frontier has committed to do that for its new customers in Ohio."
Frontier will work to bring digital subscriber line services to their coverage areas over the course of the next three years. The company will be required to provide at a minimum the federal government's definition of broadband internet, which is 758 kilobits per second, a service known as light DSL. Light DSL is about 13 times faster than traditional dial-up modems, and like all DSL services, it allows users to access the internet without inhibiting their ability to make and receive phone calls. Individual connections speeds will depend on the customer's proximity to Frontier's equipment.
Shirley said Frontier will mostly likely announce their full intentions and provide a time line for Brown County and other areas once the final agreements are made. Brown County could get DSL access earlier depending on Frontier's plans, but they will get it no later than 2013. Frontier is expected to complete the transaction with Verizon and begin operations in the state in the second quarter of this year.
While the announcement does guarantee that Brown County will have broadband access, the fact that it could be as much as three years away was a disappointment to several people in the audience at Tuesday's meeting.
"I left the meeting disappointed," Brown County Chamber of Commerce President Tim McKeown said. "I had high hopes that Brown County would have broadband in six to 12 months, but that we'll get broadband in 48 months is good news regardless."
Recent studies, including the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission's state Route 32 and U.S. 50 study, have shown that a lack of broadband internet access is one of the main stumbling blocks preventing businesses from locating in Brown County and other rural areas.
"Thanks to the stimulus package broadband is considered a utility as important as water and sewage," McKeown said. "We might be getting the minimum bandwidth (light DSL), but it'll be here and it'll be helpful to businesses who want to work online."
Also at the Feb. 23 meeting Southern Ohio Communications Services announced they did not receive stimulus funding through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The company is interested in providing wireless broadband internet access to the outlying areas of Brown County and Southern Ohio.
Company President Gary Cooper said he is considering applying for second round funding. The deadline is March 15.
Shirley said Connect Ohio is changing their focus following the Frontier announcement. The organization recently launched a new interactive map which displays what parts of the state have broadband internet access and which providers are available.
The map has information on services available at the individual address level and Shirley said the information should be very useful to companies looking for data to use in grant applications as well as businesses looking to locate to a new area.
"It's all pretty sophisticated," Shirley said.
Connect Ohio is also working on providing updated computer equipment to local libraries complete with tech support.
Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Tony
Well all of Ohio is not getting dsl from fronier the deal was only 85% of the state is geting dsl by 2013
"Ads published on this site are not for republication in print or web media without the expressed written consent of both the advertiser and The Brown Publishing Company."
