Peter Voderberg: Ohio Has “Very Competitive” and “Aggressive” ISPs

Ohio has “very competitive” and “aggressive” broadband providers, which bodes well for the state’s goal of making broadband available statewide, said Peter Voderberg, chief for BroadbandOhio. He points to the fact that the state received applications requesting a total of $780 million when it made $77 million available for rural broadband deployments using funding from the federal Capital Projects Fund.  Voderberg has an extensive history working within Ohio’s state government and was serving as a policy advisor to Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) before establishing BroadbandOhio, ironically a few short weeks before the start of pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Previously, Ohio had not dedicated any funding resources for broadband infrastructure. But the DeWine administration allocated funds for what would become Ohio’s Residential Broadband Expansion Grant Program or, in a world that requires acronyms, ORBEG. The first round of $232 million was awarded in 2022 and focused on unserved and underserved addresses. Subsequently, Ohio received $268.6 million in Treasury Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which has been mostly earmarked.