Maryland has announced to allocate $19.6 million under a program called the Home Stretch for Difficult-to-Serve Properties program to enhance high-speed internet access for the areas lacking internet service.
The program aims to improve internet connectivity in areas that lack good internet service.
The state of Maryland has identified 18 different areas that will benefit from this program.
Out of the total $19.6 million, 17 out of the 18 jurisdictions will receive $1.1 million each. However, one jurisdiction will receive a slightly different amount of $929,100.
The difference appears as jurisdictions include 17 counties and one city, which is Baltimore.
Specifically, counties are typically larger areas that encompass multiple towns or cities, while Baltimore, being a city, is an urban area with a dense population.
Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day said, “Access to high-speed internet is essential to building equitable pathways to economic, educational, and social opportunities for all Marylanders.”
He added, “These funds will help the Office of Statewide Broadband partner with local governments and internet service providers to close critical, ‘home stretch’ gaps in their broadband infrastructure to provide that essential access for unserved homes in their communities.”
A list of jurisdictions awarded funding is listed below:
- Allegany County – $1,100,000)
- Anne Arundel County – $1,100,000)
- Baltimore – $1,100,000)
- Calvert County – $1,100,000)
- Carroll County – $1,100,000)
- Cecil County – $1,100,000)
- Charles County – $1,100,000)
- Dorchester County – $1,100,000)
- Fredrick County – $1,100,000)
- Garrett County – $1,100,000)
- Harford County – $1,100,000)
- Kent County – $929,100)
- Montgomery County – $1,100,000)
- Queen Anne’s County – $1,100,000)
- Somerset County – $1,100,000)
- Talbot County – $1,100,000)
- Wicomico County – $1,100,000)
- Worcester County – $1,100,000)
Maryland Broadband Deployment Overview
Maryland is using $24.2 million from federal funds to improve high-speed internet in 18 areas that lack service.
This funding will help connect about 2,400 locations. Each location can get up to $8,000 in funding, but the areas or network companies must cover 25% of the project costs.
“Unserved locations” are places without good internet speeds (100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload). The new projects must provide even faster speeds (100 Mbps for both download and upload).
Grant funds from the Home Stretch – Difficult to Serve Properties (HS-DSP) program can be used to build connections from unserved, hard-to-reach premises to existing broadband networks.
This includes minor extensions to current internet service providers’ infrastructure, with a maximum grant of $8,000 per location.
Projects funded by this grant must reliably provide a minimum internet speed of 100 Mbps for both downloading and uploading, with some exceptions allowed as specified in the application guide.
The Office of Statewide Broadband will provide financial assistance covering up to 75% of the costs for constructing broadband service installations in unserved locations.
The maximum grant request for a project is $1,100,000, with a cap of $8,000 available per location.
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