Horizon Telecom will begin construction on an Appalachia-based network expansion Monday — just one of many projects aimed at expanding broadband access in all 88 Ohio counties during the next two years. Horizon, a Chillicothe-based broadband provider, will break ground on the 34-countywide fiber optic broadband network expansion in Logan. The company received a $66 million grant from the government to embark on the $94 million project titled “Connecting Appalachia” for “economic development purposes,” said Public Relations Manager Randy Davies.
Although 60 percent of Appalachian Ohio doesn’t have access to broadband, Davies added that the new network would include about 600 “community anchor institutions.”
These institutions include industrial parks, 911 centers, health care facilities and about 200 K-12 schools, he said.
“It’s kind of like what (the government) did with electric back in the ‘30s,” said Davies. “... The government is realizing now that broadband is a needed way of life, so they awarded this as an economic development tool to take it farther and deeper into Appalachian Ohio.”
In 2009, Horizon began construction on the Southern Ohio Healthcare Network, which covered 13 counties, including Athens.
“That was really the spearhead for the larger project,” Davies said.
The ultimate goal is to connect all 88 Ohio counties with about 3,600 miles of cable during the next two years, he said, adding that 1,900 of those miles will be laid in this project alone.
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