Coshocton County, OH, Commissioners are putting $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to work, bringing broadband wireless to their constituents. In September 2021, the commission awarded a contract to Ohio Transparent Telecom (Ohio TT) of Zanesville, OH, which colocated equipment and went live on several towers across the county, covering 15,000 residents at the end of 2022, according to the Coshocton Tribune.
In 2023, Ohio TT begins phase two of the project, which will focus on new builds. By the end of the year, it intends to focus on advertising and promotion of wireless broadband services and on-boarding customers. At completion, 18 sites should cover about 36,900 residents, Megan Kvamme of Ohio TT told the Coshocton Tribune.
Ohio TT is a grassroots organization that is attempting to provide broadband for underserved rural communities through a profit-sharing model with customers. Its partners are Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Winncom Technologies, and Blu-shift Wireless.
The project appears to be gaining momentum, reports the Coshocton Tribune. Land leases are expected to be completed next month, along with the manufacturing of towers. Tower deployment will begin in June, with all towers going live by the end of October, according to Ohio TT.
However, there have been challenges. Several Multi-Agency Radio Communication System towers set for colocation failed their loading analyses and couldn’t be used, which left them with eight existing towers for colocation.
The answer to having fewer towers was to add Educational Broadband Service (2.5 GHz) spectrum, which will provide a more powerful signal and expand coverage, according to Kvamme.
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