MuniWireless

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland officially launched Connect Ohio, a state and municipal public-private partnership aimed at mapping and filling gaps in broadband access across the state.

“The goal of Connect Ohio is to create customized support for local communities to meet their individual technological needs while helping expand broadband service to all residents and businesses,” Strickland said in announcing the program.

The project will be governed by Connect Ohio Initiatives, LLC, a non-profit that is working with Connected Nation. The cost of the program to the state is expected to total about $7.8 million through the 2010-2011 biennium.

The state will partner with broadband providers to map current coverage, pinpoint gaps and establish public-private partnerships to supply computers in areas that have broadband service but where access remains low.

Clearly, the success of the initiative hinges on the willingness of incumbents to cooperate in providing true and accurate data and to promote alternatives that will succeed in bringing affordable broadband access into underserved service areas. Not surprisingly, it is being cheered by the Ohio Cable Telecommunications Association and the Ohio Telecom Association.

According to a report in the Wilmington News-Journal, “The Connect Ohio model is based on community-specific needs, allowing private providers, the state and community partners to develop customized plans for broadband service in their areas. Connect Ohio will conduct annual, quantitative surveys on the use of and access to broadband services and computing applications. Using this data, teams in each county will analyze the situation in their community to determine the necessary level of support and technical guidance needed to expand access.”

To the extent that local communities and their incumbent service providers get behind the effort, it could provided needed coverage where none currently exists.

The Marietta Times reports that officials there are welcoming the initiative as a way of potentially making use of currently unused and underused resources in and around the city. The city evidently has been studying various options for a number of years. Towers that were originally built for use by emergency services could be used in expanding service to residents in the city.

Click here to read the Wilmington News-Journal story.

Click here to read the Marietta Times report.