ZANESVILLE -- With the help of a multimillion-dollar grant, a greater number of people in southeast Ohio will be able to access broadband technology.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded $3 million in broadband stimulus funds over the next two years to fund Internet training for more than 5,000 low-income households in Detroit’s Central Woodward/North End and Osborn neighborhoods.

The funding is part of $18.7 million directed to Detroit and six other communities in Ohio, Kentucky, Florida and Mississippi to assist 25,000 low-income residents in Internet usage, as part of the national Broadband Technology Opportunity Program, led by OneCommunity in Cleveland...

In about two weeks the FCC is scheduled to deliver a national broadband plan to Congress. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 mandated that the FCC author the plan, with the idea that the billions of dollars that are being allocated to broadband infrastructure should be wisely invested. The broadband stimulus plan allocates $7.2 billion towards the broadband cause. It appears to be a down payment.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FCC’s national broadband plan will call for an additional $25 billion in spending. Of that $25 billion, approximately half or more will be allocated to a nationwide broadband public safety network for first responders. The FCC hopes to pay for this portion through future wireless spectrum auction proceeds. Additionally, the plan calls for $9 billion in funding for bringing broadband to rural areas. But it’s not entirely clear where that funding will come from...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced another 22 broadband infrastructure awards for projects being provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In all, more than $254.6 million will be invested in 22 projects. An additional $13.1 million in private investment will be provided in matching funds.

Ohio
Wabash Mutual Telephone Co.: Fort Recovery Area FTTH Project; $2,201,042 loan and $2,174,787 grant. The funding will provide an optical fiber network in the region that allows digital television and high-speed Internet using fiber optics deployed directly to the premises.

Intelliwave: The Athens, Fairfield, and Pickaway County Ohio Rural Broadband Initiative Project; $1,162,599 loan and $1,116,997 grant. The funding will provide affordable wireless broadband and VoIP phone service to underserved rural Ohio communities in Athens, Fairfield, and Pickaway counties.

Benton Ridge Telephone Co.: The Broadband Expansion Project - Benton Ridge; $1,611,124 loan and $1,547,942 grant. The funding will provide Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) in the Benton Ridge exchange of South Central Ohio, including dedicated fiber optic connections for each customer...

LISBON - Columbiana County is expected to benefit from nearly $12 million in federal stimulus money awarded Ohio to help the poor and unemployed obtain high-speed Internet service and train them how to use it.

Cleveland-based OneCommunity was recipient of the $11.7 million stimulus money awarded this week through the U.S. Department of Commerce. OneCommunity will direct $3.1 million of that amount to ACCEL, a Zanesville non-profit with which it partnered to administer the two-year program to 10 Appalachian counties, including Columbiana County...

OneCommunity has received $18.7 million in stimulus money that it plans to use to help poor residents in Ohio and four other states get high-speed Internet access and learn to use it.

The Cleveland-based nonprofit, which provides fiber-optic Internet service to government agencies and nonprofits in Northeast Ohio, will use $11.7 million of that money to increase broadband adoption in Cleveland, Akron and southeastern Ohio. The rest of the money for the “Connect Your Community” program will go to Detroit; Lexington, Ky.; Bradenton, Fla.; and Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss...