How Maryland is Working to Make Broadband More Affordable

According to the American Community Survey, 94.1 percent of Maryland residents have a home internet subscription of some kind which—while outperforming the national rate by 3.8 percentage points—still indicates that a sizable number of Maryland households are disconnected from the internet at home. Among Maryland households that do not subscribe to internet service of any kind, 12 percent reported that the primary reason they do not subscribe is the inability to afford service. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program provides federal funding​ to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment, and adoption programs. Maryland’s BEAD plan serves​ as the state's broadband plan, establishing commitments and strategies to support broadband projects over the next five years in alignment with the Office of Statewide Broadband’s objective to close the digital divide in Maryland. The Initial Proposal presents the state’s method of implementing the plan.​