Internet access coming to more

RAWSON — Spectrum on Friday unveiled a $10.8 million extension of internet, mobile, TV and voice services to about 1,200 homes and small businesses in broadband "dead zones" in Hancock County. $2.2 million of the funds is from the federal government through the efforts of U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green. "It really boils down to, if you don't have it, you're in trouble," Latta said. Benefiting from the new connections are parts of Amanda, Biglick and Marion townships, east and southeast of Findlay; Jackson Township, south of Findlay; Orange and Van Buren townships, southwest of Findlay; Washington Township, northeast of Findlay and in the Arcadia-Fostoria area, said David Sobotka, director of construction for Rural Build Ohio, Spectrum. More extensions will be made in the coming months in parts of Madison and Delaware townships, at the south end of the county, he said. The additions will serve homes, businesses, people's medical and mental health care through telehealth, precision agriculture and children's education. "The widespread availability of reliable high-speed internet options are limited and sometimes nonexistent," Cory-Rawson Superintendent Jay Clark said. "This lack of access was magnified during the pandemic for schools as we had students without sufficient connection to keep up with online school assignments. I experienced that firsthand as I live in a rural area, and it was not easy for our four children." Spectrum's fiber optic network expansion in Hancock County is part of a $9 billion investment — including $2 billion from the federal government — in underserved and unserved rural areas. Spectrum's rural expansion will provide broadband access to about 1.75 million customer locations across 24 states. Latta has been working behind the scenes for the improvements. He is chairman of the congressional panel with jurisdiction over all broadband deployment across the country — the Communications and Technology Subcommittee. The panel is part of the U.S. House's Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Latta is a member. Years ago, he noticed errors in Federal Communications Commission maps depicting broadband access across the country. "I called the (FCC) chairman, who is a friend of mine, I said, 'I hate to tell you this, your maps are wrong. You've got all of Northwest Ohio, in my district, being covered. They're not,'" Latta recalled saying. Since then, the federal government has invested over $98 million to make accurate maps, he said. "When you start to deploy, you want to know where (the gap) is," Latta said. "We have $42.8 billion that has been appropriated to make sure we get broadband across the country (for) everything from here to schools to telehealth to businesses to people just staying connected," he said. "You can't survive anymore without it." If a business is not on the internet, it's practically invisible, Latta said. "That really hurts our small communities. It doesn't just hurt that business alone because they can't find a consumer," he said. "All of a sudden, that business is going to have to make decision: Do they stay in that area or are they going to leave? In a lot of cases, they're going to say, 'You know what, we're going to have to pick up our stakes and go someplace else.' So that hurts our rural areas."