WILMINGTON, Ohio — The push continues to help rural communities across Ohio get connected to broadband.

What You Need To Know

  • Rural areas across Ohio are making it a priority to provide internet access to all residents

  • That's because there are rural residents who have little to no access to the internet

  • Clinton County has partnered with Charter Communications to get thousands of rural residents access to internet, tv and phone services

  • The FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund is helping with a portion of the funding for the expansion

Accessing broadband isn't always easy in rural parts of the state. Among them is Clinton County, which has struggled over the years to offer options to the people who live and work there.

“Being a small rural community, Clinton County has been kind of left behind, and we've really felt the technology gap with regards to connectivity in many places in our community," said Clinton County Commissioner Kerry Steed.

Steed sees the program firsthand. Clinton County has a population of about 42,000, and while some townships in the county have access to the internet, others are still struggling. 

“There was no connectivity or if there was, it was very weak,” said Steed.

That’s why the county is working to expand access to the internet, TV and phone services to homes and businesses across the county. A new $18 million investment will bring that connectivity to 3,000 homes and businesses across the county.

“The fact that we were able to leverage our dollars and almost double that with what the investment is going to be on the spectrum side is another positive that the community sees,” he said.

Last year, thanks to help from the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, also known as RDOF, began providing services to more than 2,000 locations in Clinton County.

“Clinton County is going to be viewed as the tip of the spear with regards to rural connectivity,” he said. “Spectrum is has had an initiative with regards to connecting those residents that live outside the major metropolitan areas. And we felt that this was a perfect partnership for that.”

This project is a part of Spectrum’s new fiber-optic network buildout to invest in unserved rural opportunities. It’s funded by a $5 billion RDOF grant. 

Charter Communications is the parent company of both Spectrum and Spectrum News 1.