Ohio Limits Wireless Grant Eligibility, Requires Social Media Age Verification

Ohio will limit wireless eligibility for broadband grants and require age verification on social media. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a 2024-25 budget bill (HB-33) Tuesday including those two sections despite opposition from wireless and internet groups. The wireless restriction may misalign Ohio with federal requirements in the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said a Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) spokesperson Wednesday: “Fewer solutions never result in more flexibility.”

Wireless ISPs raised concerns with part of the budget removing wireless broadband from definitions of tier one and tier two broadband services for the purposes of getting grants (see 2306150064). Internet companies opposed a section requiring social websites to verify users’ ages and get parental approval for children under 16 to set up accounts.

CTIA is “very concerned with the impact that” Ohio’s budget "will have on delivering fast, reliable broadband connectivity to all Ohioans,” said Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings. Fixed wireless is a fast-to-deploy and cost-effective way to bring service to rural areas, she said. But HB-33 “severely limits qualified connectivity options, like wireless, from the state’s broadband funding.”

Several wireless industry groups asked DeWine to line-item veto the wireless restriction. “The state could be unlawfully preempting federal statute by substituting its own technology restrictions for those established for the BEAD program,” wrote WISPA President David Zumwalt and NATE President Todd Schlekeway Monday. “It also could handcuff the state by limiting its ability to seek waivers of the BEAD rules that would enable more unserved and underserved areas of the state to be funded with BEAD grants.” The restriction may undermine billions in wireless industry dollars, said the association heads: Setting the extremely high cost per location threshold too high could mean no place for cheaper and quicker-to-deploy fixed wireless. “There may even be areas that are not funded.”

“We urge you to veto these provisions which would largely limit funds to a single broadband technology and instead maintain the flexible rules which allow a variety of solutions to compete and afford the most options to communities on the wrong side of the digital divide,” said a separate letter by the same groups plus CTIA, Competitive Carriers Association, Rural Wireless Association and the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA). Ohio received a $793.7 million BEAD allocation (see 2306260007).

Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton said the Ohio budget language lines up with the fiber preference in NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for BEAD. Since the NOFO’s rules control, all states including Ohio “will prioritize fiber for these critical broadband infrastructure projects and limit other alternative broadband technologies for deployment areas which are above the extremely high-cost threshold, as defined by each state,” said Bolton.

Many customers choose wireless broadband and “it should always be considered as an option to quickly and efficiently connect the unconnected,” said WIA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Mike Saperstein. He noted WIA was pleased by a Senate amendment that allowed wireless to be considered in extremely high-cost areas. An earlier version had excluded wireless from the state grant program.

Social media is harming children’s mental and physical health and reducing academic performance, said Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted (R) at a news conference livestreamed Wednesday. “Thanks to the passage of this legislation, we are now on the verge of giving parents more say on how these big tech companies reach and interact with our kids." Husted stressed, “There is nothing being banned.” The bill gives parents “notification and choice,” he said. DeWine applauded the social media section. “This budget helps make Ohio the heart of opportunity for everyone,” he said in a news release. DeWine and Husted didn’t comment on the wireless eligibility language.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association opposed the social media age-verification requirement at the legislature and had planned to send DeWine a letter requesting veto, said a CCIA spokesperson: But the governor signed the budget before the letter was ready. NetChoice last week challenged an Arkansas age-verification bill in court (see 2306300001).