Broadband Could Boost Economic Development in the Valley

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Many rural areas in the Mahoning Valley lack broadband availability, affecting quality of life as well as economic development prospects. 

But Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, with funding from Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners and Springfield Township, aims to change that.  

“There are a lot of impacts,” said Mark Ragozine, Eastgate’s economic development administration project manager. “You’re not going to get a major employer that requires, for example, a data center or a major manufacturing operation that needs intensive broadband. They’re not going to locate into your community or your county if you can’t adequately serve them, so we’re focusing on it from a variety of vantage points.” 

Children need reliable internet for school. Job seekers need it to apply for jobs or for unemployment benefits. And a 2015 study reported that a fiber-to-home connection may boost a home’s value by 3%.

Eastgate has awarded contracts for two projects in parts of Mahoning County to companies that will provide fiber connectivity. More projects are in development in Trumbull County. Both counties’ commissioners awarded American Rescue Plan Act funding for the projects.

“In total from Mahoning County, we’ve gotten $1,750,000, and that money has been targeted at Springfield, Smith, Goshen, Jackson and Milton” townships, Ragozine says. “Basically, we targeted those five townships because they showed, under the FCC data, the most unserved and underserved locations.”

That means those areas lack the internet download and upload speeds found in most of the county.

“If you look at the five townships that we’ve kind of focused on in Mahoning, some of them have wireless providers,” he said. “I think the common denominator, though, is that they’re a little more rural.”

That makes it difficult for broadband providers, which are looking for a certain number of houses per road or per mile, Ragozine explained. It becomes expensive for those companies to invest in those areas without government help, he said.

“So Spectrum Charter, they’re going to be handling Smith, Goshen and Jackson and Milton. They’re going to serve about 430 locations,” Ragozine said. “And then Comcast was the successful bidder for the Springfield piece, and they’re going to handle about 100 locations there.”

The Spectrum portion received $1.5 million from the county for the work in Goshen, Milton, Jackson and Smith townships.

“They came to the table with $1.25 million of their own, so overall it’s going to be a $2.75 million project there,” Ragozine said.

A spokesman for Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum, said in an email that the company is in the process of securing pole permits for the work.

Both projects are expected to be completed by late next year, and Ragozine said the difference will be dramatic. Both projects involve fiber broadband. 

“You’re going to see a transformative difference in the quality and coverage of their internet in all five of those communities,” he said.

Mahoning County commissioners presented a $250,000 check to Eastgate on Wednesday for the Springfield broadband expansion.

“This initiative is a significant step forward for Springfield Township and Mahoning County as a whole,” a statement from the commissioners said. “Expanding broadband access is essential to our community’s economic growth, educational opportunities, and overall quality of life. We are excited to see this project come to fruition and provide much-needed connectivity to the residents of Springfield Township.”

Comcast provided a dollar for dollar match for the roughly $500,000 project, Ragozine said.

A Comcast official said in a statement that the company is proud to be selected for the Springfield project to connect residents to fast, reliable and secure internet.

“This builds on work Comcast is doing across Mahoning County to connect more local homes and businesses to the power of the nation’s largest, fastest and most trusted broadband network,” said Ricky Frazier Jr., senior vice president for Comcast’s Keystone Region.

Eastgate is seeking proposals to serve even more of Springfield Township. Township trustees allocated $140,000 in ARPA funds to Eastgate for that work.

“There’s still some remaining locations in Springfield that we’d like to tackle,” Ragozine said.

The Spectrum project involves servicing primarily residential customers, but by expanding its networks into those communities, the company may continue to grow in those areas.

“This may be a shot in the arm, a good first start, but I would anticipate down the road that this will certainly have an impact on all government, businesses and residents,” the Eastgate manager said.

In the Springfield project, there are a handful of businesses that will receive the service, as well as residents. Mahoning County has a separate project that commissioners are investing in to run a fiber ring to connect all government buildings in the county.

Wendy DiBernardi, a Milton Township trustee, said broadband access isn’t something she hears complaints about from residents. Last summer, the township conducted a town hall meeting to generate interest about a new community building the township was planning, but other topics were discussed too. 

“Only a handful mentioned it,” she said of broadband. About 75 people attended the meeting, a number DiBernardi considers a good turnout for the roughly 3,000-resident community.  

A broadband project is in the works in Trumbull County, too, although Eastgate hasn’t advertised it for bids.

About a month ago, that county allotted $1.5 million in ARPA funds to Eastgate for broadband for northern Trumbull. A consultant identified Kinsman, Bloomfield and Mesopotamia townships as most in need of improved internet connectivity.

“But we recognize there’s an issue in all of the top 10 townships,” Ragozine said, referring to Gustavus, Greene, Farmington, Bristol, Mecca, Johnston and Vernon townships, as well as the other three.

In August, the state announced it had awarded $94.5 million to two internet service providers for six high-speed internet projects serving 23 counties, including Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana.

Time Warner Cable Midwest was awarded more than $83 million for five projects, including $13 million to provide access to 5,036 households in Trumbull, Columbiana, Ashtabula and Portage counties.

Brightspeed was awarded $11 million for one project that will provide access to 5,053 households in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Allen, Ashtabula, Knox and Shelby counties. 

“I think they’re going to cover roughly 3,000 locations up there” in Trumbull, Ragozine said. “We want to let the dust settle and figure out where they’re going before we decide to put [a request for proposals] out. We want to make sure we’re not going to locations that are already served.”

Pictured at top: Mark Ragozine, economic development administration project manager at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.