Carroll County has many ways to “connect” to internet access but still has significant areas of undeveloped land consisting of lots of hills, trees, rivers and creeks.   Because of these obstacles, access outside of Carroll’s major cities and towns can be challenging and unreliable. The county understands this and is working to bring reliable internet to all the residences in the county. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the need to connect the country to the front and center of everyone’s attention.  The Federal government is in the process of spending a historic once-in-a-lifetime amount of money to close this “Digital Divide”.

Since 2007, Carroll County has invested $15.6 million in building broadband infrastructure around the county. These funds have gone to build a county owned fiber ring around and through the county. This fiber ring is leased by county businesses and provides income to the county.  The fiber ring is also leased by Internet providers (ISPs) to connect residences and businesses to the Internet, making it more affordable for the provider to bring service to underserved areas. 

To date, $15 million has gone to help fund service providers to bring internet to county residences. This investment has come from a combination of State, Federal, County, and Private Internet providers.

In cooperation with the State of Maryland and private ISPs, another $22.5 million has been granted to County Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in April of 2023.  A total investment of $38 million was directed to building fiber optic Internet service to residents. Building all this new infrastructure will take time. Most of the building is expected to be completed by 2025. The County’s goal is to ultimately have close to 100% of households connected by fiber optic cable.  

However, this current investment will not be enough to build out fiber to every home.

The Federal government announced at the end of last year (2022) the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD).  This is a $42.34 billion nationwide program.  Maryland is expected to get $267.7 million or more from this grant. Carroll County will be working with service providers to determine where this money should be best spent to connect as much of the county as possible.

Included as part of the BEAD grant, the grant includes funding for “Digital Equity and Digital Inclusion” (DE/DI). DE/DI is designed to help states and counties create organizations to assist citizens with technology assistance and training.  Think of it as technical support for those that have little knowledge about how to use technology such as computers, notebooks, accessing the Internet, and so much more. Carroll is working with organizations within the county to create a DE/DI resource.  Currently, the county is in discussion with Carroll Tech Council to create this organization.

Besides the historic funding from the BEAD grant, additional government organizations have funding programs in place or are creating new programs. The United States Department of Agriculture and the Maryland Department of Agriculture are such organizations.  The County is currently working with providers to determine if the county is eligible for any of these grants.

At the end of 2022, the county hired a Broadband Project Manager to facilitate the future expansion of broadband to the county residents. The job of this Project Manager is to be the interface and county advocate between service providers, the State and Federal Government, and county citizens.

For more information contact:

Jay Uebel – Broadband Project Manager
Technology Services
O: 410-386-2309 M: 443-862-8771
Email: juebel@carrollcountymd.gov