Ohio logged progress at both ends of the broadband pipeline this month: a $20 million backbone contract was signed in the north, and a rural last-mile build was finished in the east.
Route 30 middle-mile contract signed: 257 miles across 15 counties
On 30-Jul-2026, the state signed a $20 million contract with Wapakoneta-based Com Net, Inc. to build the Route 30 Middle-Mile Infrastructure Project — 257 miles of fiber, largely underground along U.S. 30’s right-of-way, crossing 15 northern Ohio counties including Richland, Ashland and Crawford. Construction is scheduled to take 24 months, and the infrastructure must remain commercially available to providers for at least 20 years. BroadbandOhio chief Peter Voderberg said the project “has gone through many different iterations to make sure that we were on the right path.”
Middle-mile is the backbone that carries traffic between communities — not the line to your house. Its value is that last-mile providers can lease it instead of building their own long-haul routes, which is what makes rural last-mile builds financially viable.
Comcast completes a 2,300-home rural build in eastern Ohio
On 27-Aug-2026, Comcast announced it has completed a BroadbandOhio-supported expansion bringing its fiber-powered network to more than 2,300 previously unserved homes and businesses across Belmont, Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson and Mahoning counties. Residents there can now order Xfinity internet, mobile and TV service.
What this means if you live in Ohio
The eastern Ohio build is done — if you are in one of those five counties and previously had no wired option, availability is worth re-checking now. The Route 30 project is the opposite: a two-year construction start whose benefit arrives later, through the providers that connect to it. Nothing about it changes what you can order today, where the practical options remain Spectrum and Xfinity in their footprints, T-Mobile home internet, and satellite in the gaps.