More towers go live as broadband continues to rollout across the county
COSHOCTON − About 10,000 households in Coshocton County will shortly have access to broadband internet as Ohio TT continues to install equipment and go live with services.
The company's first tower in Millcreek went live in late March. Since that time, they've also put equipment on six other co-location towers that became active recently for beta testers. These are known as Head Start, Fresno, Conesville, Nellie, Stewart and County Road 55 towers. Kyle Yoder of Ohio TT said these tower should be providing service by the first week of September.
Ohio TT is waiting on approval to place equipment on three MARCS towers in the areas of Blissfield, New Castle and Keene. The company looking at possible other towers in those areas for use in case its request is not approved.
After that, Ohio TT will begin construction on 11 new towers with some at 300 feet high and others at 150 feet. Matt Armstead of Ohio TT said they're talking with property owners now on securing building rights.
"This services two-thirds, the most people we could possibly do the quickest we could do," Armstead said of phase one. "The next phase is to get to the people who need it most. These are the areas where you drive and there's no cell service, no internet. That's the next phase when we start building the towers."
Coshocton County Commissioners contracted with the Zanesville-based company in September 2021 for the $5 million project to provide 15,000 underserved county households and businesses. Yoder said they have about 100 clients registered for service by calling in or going to the website now, but he knows many more are interested.
Armstead said they will have a booth at the Coshocton County Fair to talk with people and distribute information. They will also be providing wireless access in the commercial buildings and are exploring being able to provide wireless internet across the grounds during the fair. Ohio TT is talking with various entities, such as Lake Park and Roscoe Village, to provide free wireless to the general public.
"We're looking for partnerships that can help drive visitors to the region and give us exposure," Armstead said. "It's letting people know the service exists and them seeing it firsthand, the quality of the service and spreading the word about it being here."
Additionally, Armstead said the firm has recently been approved for the Affordable Connectivity Program through the Federal Communications Commission to provide free internet to qualifying families. Armstead estimated that could be around 25% of county residents.
"We're hearing some great feedback in the market. People are very excited about it. We've had good success with our early adopters," Armstead said.
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with close to 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: More towers go live as broadband continues to rollout across the county
