Breezeline, the eighth-largest cable operator in the U.S., will partner with state and local officials
in Maryland to extend the availability of broadband internet in Cecil, St. Mary’s and Queen
Anne’s counties.
The partnership will extend broadband access to 524 homes and businesses in the three
counties. The state will contribute $3.68 million toward the $4.3 million project, while Breezeline
will contribute $347,000 and the contributions from the three local counties will total $309,000.
The grant applications were submitted through the Maryland Network Infrastructure Grant
Program and the state’s Neighborhood Connect Broadband Funding Program, both of which are
designed to help extend broadband services into previously unserved areas. The programs are
funded and administered through Maryland’s Office of Statewide Broadband.
Breezeline, in partnership with the St. Mary’s County Board of Education, has also been
awarded a separate $339,000 grant from the Maryland Emergency Education Relief (MEER)
grant program to help bring broadband to an additional 23 student households in Maryland that
currently lack access to internet services. Administered by the Maryland Department of Housing
and Community Development (DHCD) through the Office of Statewide Broadband (OSB), the
MEER grant program is designed to provide relief to K-12 students and related school staff to
close the gap for students who lack necessary internet access or the devices they need to
connect to classrooms.
Once grant agreements are executed with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community
Development, walkout and design phases of the project will commence. The projects have an
estimated completion date late 2023 (Cecil and St. Mary’s) and summer 2024 (Queen Anne’s).
“We are excited to partner with local county officials and the state to extend our broadband
reach even further into these communities,” said William T. Newborg, Director of Grants and
Funding for Breezeline. “We look forward to bringing the performance and reliability of high
speed broadband to these rural Maryland communities to support work-from-home,
telemedicine, education and other vital needs.”
“We are pleased to partner with Breezeline and the State of Maryland to address the
connectivity needs of rural communities,” said St. Mary’s County Commissioner President
Randy Guy. “St. Mary’s County has undertaken a strategic approach to improving the county
broadband infrastructure by leveraging available grants to bring broadband to otherwise hard-toreach areas of our communities.”
The three-county initiative in Maryland is one of multiple private-public broadband partnerships
that Breezeline has pursued to expand the reach of broadband across its service areas. With
support from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security Act (also known as the CARES Act), the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, and
other partnerships, Breezeline has completed additional expansion projects in Mathews,
Caroline, Lancaster, Middlesex and King George counties in Virginia, St. Mary’s and Queen
Anne’s counties in Maryland, and Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.