Howard County, Maryland, Ensures Broadband to 85 Percent of Unserved Households

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced exciting, new Transform Howard projects that will make remarkable progress in closing the digital divide in Howard County (MD) with broadband expansion to 85 percent of currently unserved households. Ball detailed three projects to implement public Wi-Fi and broadband in Elkridge to 100 households and expand broadband access in Western Howard County to 462 households. A recent survey of Howard County residents showed us that their use of internet-connected computers and other devices for school and education went from 36 percent to 59 percent. Telemedicine and health online usage increased from 28 percent to 81 percent. Using computers and internet access for telework went from 17 percent to 63 percent. The expansion of internet services to close the digital divide was one of the key recommendations made by the HoCo RISE Collaborative, which brought together 50 public and private sector stakeholders together to create a series of recommendations for pandemic recovery. In response, Howard County launched Transform Howard initiative in May 2021 aiming to expand digital inclusion and increase community access to broadband.