High-speed Internet may be available in parts of Carroll County with poor or no connectivity.
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote Thursday on separate contracts with Comcast and Verizon worth a combined $4.6 million, which if approved would clear the way for more access.
The contract with Comcast Cable Communications is worth $4 million, according to a county brief. The contract with Verizon Maryland is for $451,481.
Both will provide broadband internet networks to the “unserved and underserved.”
The funding comes from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund program, which is part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
The county received $32,718,855 in two grants from the COVID-19 stimulus package. About half of the funds were received in May 2021, with the remainder arriving in May 2022. The funding is intended to accelerate the country’s recovery from the economic and health impacts of the pandemic.
The county allocated $17.8 million for IT projects. Of that amount, $11.9 million will be used to provide broadband connectivity to unserved or underserved residences in the county.
Internet providers report that 90 percent of Carroll County has some form of Internet access, according to the county website.
“However, the county recognizes that there are many unserved or underserved areas of the county, including areas where access to services is impractical or unaffordable,” the website states.
An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 homes in the county are unserved or underserved, meaning internet service is unreliable, slow or unreasonably expensive.
Carroll County, meanwhile, is not an internet service provider, but the county does work with private ISPs to expand the network using the county’s fiber optic network.
The county began construction of more than 110 miles of fiber optic lines in 2007. More than 130 local and state agencies are able to connect to the network, including county offices, Board of Education buildings and schools, Carroll Community College, Carroll County Public Schools Library System, emergency facilities, courts and town offices.
Expansion work continued in 2011, when the county received $6 million in federal funding, plus $2 million in county matching, to build a fiber optic backbone—the nerve center of the ultra-high-speed network. This provides broadband access to 11 additional areas in the county.
The commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday in Room 311 of the County Office Building, 225 North Center Street, Westminster. It will be broadcast live at https://www.youtube.com/@CarrollCountyGov. Anyone can make public comments at the meeting, in person or online. Those wishing to attend the meeting online should call 872-240-3212 and enter access code 317-923-893 to attend.