Rep. McNally Announces $24.8M to Expand Broadband Access in Mahoning & Columbiana Counties

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) today announced $24,835,477 in Department of Development (DEV) Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grants for entities working to provide affordable, high-speed internet access in Mahoning and Columbiana County.

“We know online connectivity is increasingly important in our rural communities and we especially saw this during the pandemic. We no longer live in a world where the internet is a utility that families can go without,” said Rep. McNally. “Companies are not as incentivized to build infrastructure for reliable, high-speed internet in communities with fewer customers. This investment from the Biden Administration is making it happen and I’m very grateful.”

The Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grants, funded by the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act enacted in the first months of the Biden Administration and included in House Bill 33 of the 135th General Assembly, are intended to provide internet service with speeds of at least 100/100 Mbps to households upon project completion.

Recipients of funds in Ohio’s 59th district include:

• $11,358,720 for Brightspeed to benefit 5,053 households in Allen, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Knox, Mahoning, Shelby, and Trumbull counties by providing access to fiber-based broadband of up to 1 gigabyte per second symmetrical speeds to every household.
• $13,476,757 for Time Warner Cable Midwest to benefit 5,036 households in Ashtabula, Columbiana, Portage, and Trumbull counties by providing access to reliable high-speed internet using Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology capable of delivering 1 Gigabit symmetrical speeds.