3940MM212

Horizon Telcom

Purpose: The Appalachian Ohio Middle Mile Expansion Project focuses on key gaps in Appalachian Ohio's open middle mile infrastructure. Building upon NTIA's previous investments in the Ohio Middle Mile Consortium (OMMC), the applicant's design reaches two counties currently lacking any open middle mile, establishes new points of presence (POPs) in three counties, and densifies the existing network in six additional counties. The design closes multiple rings, increases reliability and resiliency for the entire service area, and creates additional interconnection points among the original OMMC members.

The proposed 239 miles of new fiber (primarily aerial) (minimum of 288 strands) will pass within 1,000 feet of 16,257 households, 525 community anchor institutions, and 2,114 businesses. The project will provide dark fiber and lit capacity to ISPs, local telcos, and community institutions (schools, healthcare facilities, local government facilities) over the 239 new miles as well as over 711 existing miles of fiber.

As a community benefit, the applicant intends to provide indefeasible rights to use (IRUs) on the network to the K-12 Information Technology Centers (ITCs) serving school districts in the region (OME-RESA and META Solutions), the Southern Ohio Health Care Network (a high-speed fiber network that serves over 350+ healthcare facilities in 40 Ohio counties), and OARnet (the state's academic fiber network).

Activities to be performed: The project will use fiber to build a new/resilient middle mile network through unserved and underserved communities with a commitment to open access and carrier-neutral non-discriminatory interconnect. The period of performance is expected to be four years.

Expected outcome: The Appalachian Ohio Middle Mile Expansion Project will achieve the following outcomes:
1. Deploy middle mile fiber through 239 miles of new build and make available 711 miles of existing applicant-owned fiber to public access that collectively will facilitate last mile connections for 16,257 unserved and underserved households and 2,114 unserved and underserved businesses.
2. Provide access to 525 unserved and underserved anchor institutions.
3. Create a community benefit IRU ring supporting schools, healthcare facilities, and local government facilities.
4. High-speed connections to internet aggregation points of presence (POPs) in Cincinnati, OH, and Pittsburgh, PA.
5. According to the applicant, wholesale pricing packages will enable end-user price reductions of over 400% of prevailing rates on a per Mbps per month basis.
6. Create a resilient and redundant ring network architecture that supports the delivery of more reliable broadband services to residential, business, and government customers, including electric utilities.

Intended beneficiaries: The Appalachian Ohio Middle Mile Expansion Project will benefit unserved and underserved communities in southeastern Ohio through the deployment of a fiber optic ring architecture network that provides middle mile and last mile providers access to dark fiber and lit fiber resources. The applicant asserts that the proposed network will provide broadband infrastructure that enables last mile services via last mile providers for:
- 16,257 unserved and underserved households
- 525 total unserved and underserved anchor institutions, including 57 unserved anchor institutions
- Counties with a significant percentage of residents below 150% of the poverty line (Coshocton 21%, Athens 20%, Holmes 30%, Jefferson 19%, Knox 19%, Perry 45%, and Tuscarawas 17%).

Subrecipient activities: There are no subawards.

11.033 - Middle Mile (Broadband) Grant Program

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [DOC]

Chillicothe, Ohio 45601-0480 United States

Single Zip Code

None