Regional Broadband Feasibility Study
A new Regional Broadband Feasibility Study report, created by Reid Consulting Group in collaboration with Buckeye Hills Regional Council and the Buckeye Hills Foundation, focuses on expanding the availability of “last mile” broadband infrastructure that reaches individual homes and businesses. While some regions of the Buckeye Hills region would benefit from having additional “middle mile” fiber to bridge the gap between unserved territories and internet providers’ home offices, the last mile remains the region’s most significant challenge.
In the past, internet providers have been unwilling to invest in rural broadband infrastructure due to the BHRC region’s rugged terrain and low population density. Using only private funding, a provider simply cannot make a sustainable business case for serving rural areas. Fortunately, federal and state agencies are beginning to recognize just how important broadband access is to the economic, cultural, and physical well-being of rural households. With over $1 billion in new state and federal broadband funding on the way in Ohio, the BHRC region has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to significantly reduce the digital divide.
The pandemic exacerbated the need for affordable, reliable high-speed broadband. To address this issue, BHRC retained Reid Consulting Group to conduct a Regional Broadband Feasibility Study. This study identifies the true extent of broadband need across the BHRC region and provides in-depth, county-by-county broadband profiles that can be used to prioritize broadband service to unserved and underserved areas, develop cost estimates, and build compelling grant applications. This study was funded in part by the I’m a Child of Appalachia Fund of the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio through the Buckeye Hills Foundation and provides a roadmap to BHRC’s members for quantifying the need for reliable high-speed broadband and a process for providing service to the unserved and underserved areas.
This report is meant to be a practical planning tool to help local officials and economic development professionals create broadband project proposals for regional, state, and federal grant programs as well as internet service providers.
An Interactive ArcGIS map of the report data is available to assist local officials in developing project proposals. For access to the map, please contact BHRC.
View the full Regional Broadband Feasibility Study.
Business Broadband Survey
In addition to the Regional Broadband Feasibility Study, Reid Consulting Group conducted a public survey regarding the state of business internet accessibility and usage in Appalachian Ohio. A self-identifying category for business location address allowed RCG to extrapolate responses germane to the Buckeye Hills Regional Council’s eight-county area. A total of 80 results were recorded in the BHRC region. While this level of response does not represent a statistically significant sample, it does offer some insight into public perception.
Using the FCC’s definition of broadband as speeds above 25/3 Mbps, RCG’s analysis shows that half of all small- and medium-sized businesses in the Buckeye Hills Regional Council’s eight-county area operate with little or no access to broadband. Those 4,765 impacted companies employ nearly 18,000 people and generate over $580 million in annual revenue. Fully a third of these affected businesses are information-intensive operations that are most in need of high-capacity broadband access. An additional 1,500 businesses do have access to broadband service faster than 25/3 but slower than 50/10. That so many businesses continue to operate is a testimony to the determination found in Appalachian Ohio.
The RCG team has heard myriad stories from business owners describing workarounds for broadband limitations. For example, some businesspeople cache their data on a local machine, then travel to a library or restaurant that offers wi-fi to upload that data to the cloud. In other cases, owners must wait until the wee hours of the morning when their satellite service is less congested. In spite of such resilience and adaptability, evidence shows that these adaptations come at a cost. Businesses of similar size and industry sectors in well-served areas generate 22% higher revenues on average.
A closer examination of broadband speed ratings and business revenues shows that revenue correlates with speed. Businesses located in census blocks with higher speed ratings show higher average revenues than those located in blocks with slower service. For businesses located in unserved and underserved census blocks, proximity to good broadband also correlates with revenue. The closer a business is to a well-served census block, the higher its revenue.
This report was produced with support CARES Act funding provided by the Economic Development Administration.