Ohio receives $1.8 million for broadband study

VAN WERT - Ohio Governor Ted Strickland announced on Wednesday that Ohio will receive $1.8 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus package, to further his plan to bring the state's broadband capabilities up to speed in order to compete with other states and countries for jobs.

Connect Ohio, a public-private partnership with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, was created in order to compile and map the availability of broadband services across Ohio. Part of their study, in addition to finding sites where it was located, was to discover the speed and types of technology in use. High-speed broadband access for the past several years has been one of the top ten decision-making items cited by high-tech companies when they are looking for places to build new facilities or expand existing operations...