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As part of the state policy development committee’s informational meetings last month, David Matusoff, with Whiteboard Broadband Solutions consulting firm, urged the committee to form state policy on the expansion of broadband access to rural Ohio.

Broadband services refer to high-speed Internet connections. They are important because many new Web-enabled tools require high-speed connections for the application to work.

He said rural broadband access is improving, but Ohio still lacks competition, which would drive down prices. Also there are insufficient broadband "pipes through the state as well as broadband connections to individual desks and businesses," he said. Without proper broadband access, he suggested businesses are deterred from locating in rural communities. Private businesses are the primary broadband providers now, and statistics from 2001 indicate 86 percent of Ohioans have access to some type of broadband service, but rural areas are behind. Private businesses need to see a profit potential before locating broadband in rural areas. If there aren’t enough potential customers, Matusoff believes this is a place for government to step in and fill the void.

He urged the committee to consider supporting access to Ohio’s broadband initiatives, supporting community-wide aggregation (pulling together public customers such as local government, education and business) and suggested Farm Bureau "put a fence around $150 million of the Third Frontier" money for rural broadband expansion.

"It is crucial that rural business, including agriculture, have access to the same broadband services as their urban counterparts" said Chris Henney, OFBF director of agricultural ecology programs. He said many rural Ohio businesses today are at a competitive disadvantage due to this lack of access or if access is available, it is at a higher cost. "My hope is that we can improve rural broadband availability while continuing to lower costs and begin to narrow the gap between the haves and have nots."

The policy development committee will meet again Nov. 3 and 4 to consider all policy recommendations.

Caption: The policy development committee will meet again in early November to consider all policy recommendations.