Funding from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act is being used to provide nearly $25 million to provide affordable, high-speed internet access to more than 10,000 households in eight Ohio counties, including Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana.

The funding is part of round two of the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant programs announced by Governor Mike DeWine, authorizing nearly $95 million in funding to two internet service providers, Time Warner Cable Midwest, and Brightspeed, for six projects serving 23 Ohio counties. When completed, the program will provide households with internet service with speeds of at least 100/100 Mbps.

Brightspeed was awarded $11,358,720 to provide fiber-based broadband of up to 1 gigabyte per second symmetrical speeds to 5,053 households in Allen, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Knox, Mahoning, Shelby, Trumbull counties

Time Warner Cable Midwest was awarded $13,476,757 to provide 5,036 households in Ashtabula, Columbiana, Portage, and Trumbull counties with access to reliable high-speed internet using Fiber-to-the-Premises technology capable of delivering 1 Gigabit symmetrical speeds.

21 News has reached out to state officials for a further county-by-county breakdown of the investment but has yet to receive a response.

“We hear from local leaders and residents every day about how important it is that they get connected,” said Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik. “Through this funding, we’re moving another step closer to ending the digital divide across the state and empowering every Ohioan with the high-speed capabilities they need to prosper and thrive.”

As part of the grant process, 12 internet service providers also committed to independently fund 51 additional projects within two years to serve 10,000 households in 25 additional counties.

Money from the American Rescue Plan originates from a 2021 emergency legislative package proposed by President Biden to provide relief to families and communities impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.