Microsoft Reveals Big Plan To Launch Broadband Internet In Rural Ohio

Microsoft has teamed up with Agile Networks to launch broadband Internet throughout rural Ohio, the companies have announced. The launch will cover 900,000 Ohioans who currently have inadequate access to the Internet, this being part of Microsoft's larger Airband Initiative. Under that, Microsoft aims to reduce the number of American communities without broadband, covering 2 million people by 2022.

Microsoft is one of several companies working to launch broadband Internet in parts of the US where service is slow or non-existent. As part of its own project, Microsoft has teamed with Agile Networks to target some of Ohio's smallest communities, ensuring both residents and businesses, as well as vital facilities like hospitals, have adequate access to high-speed Internet.

Among other things, the companies will utilize unused parts of the TV spectrum, which were left behind during the analog to digital transition. Microsoft says TV white spaces equipment will be installed on Agile's towers throughout Ohio.

Ultimately, the project will help bring high-speed Internet to more than 900,000 people in Ohio, 110,000 of whom are entirely without broadband service. This project will take place over the next four years.

Internet has increasingly become a necessity in the modern world, with many schools requiring it for students to complete homework assignments, hospitals and pharmacies using it to manage patients and medication, and more.

In talking about the plan, Agile Networks said, "People across the state, no matter where they choose to live, work and send their children to school, should have the same access to strong, reliable broadband service."

SOURCE: Microsoft