Broadband project making progress

Horizon, a Chillicothe-based broadband provider, will be laying 955 feet of line along County Road 4 (Stocker Ridge Road) southeast of Newcomerstown.

This stretch of fiber optics is known as middle mile fiber. Middle mile facilities provide relatively fast, large-capacity connections between the network backbone (or backhaul) and last mile connection.

The work of laying fiber in Tuscarawas and surrounding counties began in late April.

The project, known as Connecting Appalachia, will provide high-capacity broadband services with speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, according to Ken Engstrom of Horizon. Crews are installing the new fiber that will connect businesses,

governmental, educational and health care facilities to the new world-class network.    

Network construction began last May, and the backbone of Horizon’s project is anticipated to be completed this year, he said. When operational, the new fiber-based network will be available to help enhance the efforts being put forth by the state.

Federal funding for the new fiber optic broadband network connecting 34 counties in southeastern and east central Ohio was awarded to Horizon in July 2010. This

$66.4 million Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program stimulus grant, awarded by the National Telecommunication Infrastructure Administration, will fund 70 percent of the $94.9 million project, with Horizon providing the remaining 30 percent.

The Connecting Appalachia project is part of a comprehensive statewide public-private partnership called the Ohio Middle Mile Consortium. The OMMC is facilitated by the Ohio Academic Resources Network, the technology operations arm of the University System of Ohio.

The OMMC was created to integrate three regional projects submitted by Horizon, ComNet and OneCommunity. The three BTOP projects total nearly $208 million with $141 million provided from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

Once completed, the three projects will add nearly 3,660 miles of new fiber-optic cable in virtually all of Ohio’s 88 counties.