Medina collaboration building fiber network

Business, government and others in Medina County are collaborating together to build stronger connections to each other, across the region and across the globe by building a broadband network. Rural counties are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to high-speed connectivity. The Medina County Economic Development Corp. has been working since 2001 to address this issue.

Gretchen Long with Westfield Insurance, one of the largest employers in Medina County, passed along this overview of the collaboration:

Plans are in motion to build a 153-mile fiber optic network as a response to the need for reliable high-speed connectivity. The plan is a result of collaboration between government, hospitals, safety forces, universities, libraries, Chambers of Commerce and major corporations such as Westfield Insurance, MTD and Discount Drug.

A fiber network will put Medina on track with neighboring urban centers, and ahead of all other rural counties in Ohio. The fiber network will be a boon to the local economy because it will make the area much more attractive to new businesses that need access to high-speed digital networks.

The Medina County Fiber Loop will be different from most other community-owned fiber networks in the country. After collaborators researched the ownership and financing options available, it was decided that the Medina County Port Authority would own the network, as port authorities can offer alternative financing at the lowest possible interest rate.

While most community-owned fiber networks sell communications services directly to users, there will be no requirement to buy services from Medina County Port Authority. By making the Medina County Fiber Loop a neutral platform for high-speed connectivity, the Port Authority will not compete with Verizon, Armstrong or Time Warner. Instead those companies and others will have a platform to bring in services, creating lower priced services for users.

Medina County Port Authority recently joined with OneCommunity, a nonprofit broadband provider, to construct and operate the fiber network. This partnership immediately builds a bridge from Medina County to the Northeast Ohio region, where OneCommunity is already providing broadband to public and nonprofit institutions.

OneCommunity will also use the Medina loop to expand its capacity to serve communities south of Medina County. The Port Authority and OneCommunity are exploring whether federal stimulus dollars earmarked for broadband projects may be available for the Medina project.

After seven years of research, the momentum for the project is picking up speed and the Medina County Fiber Loop is expected to “break ground” later this year.