Service provider Brightspeed has been awarded $1.5 million to expand its fiber network to almost 2,400 locations in Trumbull County, Ohio.
The provider now serves more than 190,000 families and businesses in Ohio, according to Tom Simone, Brightspeed’s Ohio state and local government affairs director.
Telecompetitor spoke to a Brightspeed spokesperson for details on the awards: “Eastgate Regional Council of Governments issued a request for proposals from service providers to deploy, operate, and maintain a broadband network to currently unserved and underserved addresses within Trumbull County,” the spokesperson said.
“Brightspeed responded and was awarded the $1.5M that will come from available American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). The $1.5M will go toward the total project cost of more than $5.5M. Brightspeed’s investment in the project is more than $4M.”
The Brightspeed award is in addition to $12.3 million in local, state and federal funding the provider has received to connect almost 5,900 Ohio homes and businesses in Allen, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Knox, Mahoning, Shelby and Trumbull counties.
Those new Ohio Brightspeed subscribers will have access to recently revamped tiers from the service provider. Earlier this month, the company said that it would offer tiers delivering data at 200 Mbps (for $29 per month), 500 Mbps, 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps).
In January, Brightspeed addressed antiquated legacy copper infrastructure with a fixed wireless access (FWA)-based voice and data service that leverages Verizon’s network. The phrasing of the press release suggests that the FWA network may be both a stop gap while the fiber network is deployed and a permanent solution to locations the new network does not reach.
