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Maryland Municipalities Seek Stimulus for Joint Broadband Network

Several Maryland counties seek $100 million stimulus grant for joint broadband network.

State and local governments that are finalizing and submitting broadband stimulus applications this week will compete with a $100 million joint application from several municipalities in Maryland.

Organizing the pact is Ira Levy, IT director of Howard County, Md., who said most participants want to expand their existing fiber to schools, libraries and other public buildings. The Maryland coalition also plans to connect each county's fiber to the networks of the other applicants in the group. The municipalities applying include several counties -- Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford, Carroll, Prince George's, Montgomery and Frederick - plus Baltimore City and Annapolis.

"We'll put in interconnectivity to make sure every network will work with one another and become one large grid," said Levy.

The project is called the One Maryland Plan, and Levy believes it would cumulatively save the applicants $40 million annually after deployment. Building and owning more fiber would free several local governments from leasing fiber.

"Many of the lease lines we pay for in the schools to connect them to high bandwidth service can cost us from $2,000 to $3,000 and even higher amounts per month," Levy said.

Some Maryland municipalities have multiple Internet service accounts to serve separate networks. Deploying one fully connected network for each government would make single, consolidated accounts possible. Levy contends those singularly connected cities and counties could then consolidate data centers, which would save money as well.

In addition to the projected $40 million savings, the applying governments plan to lease usage of the networks to other businesses. However, some might decide to use their networks as incentives to attract businesses.

"Some of us have looked at the option of not charging at all. We could use this as a true economic stimulus piece where companies could utilize some of this fiber at no cost for some years. We really want to utilize the funds not only to fund our own government efficiencies and cost savings, but also to stimulate the economy," Levy said.

Language in the broadband stimulus Notice of Funds Available requires applications to have a component that serves citizens in what the document considers areas either "unserved" or "underserved" by broadband coverage. Each of the Maryland governments that applied had at least one neighborhood that met the requirement. The proposed networks will reach out to the general areas of those neighborhoods, and local telecommunications providers have agreed to install equipment to connect them directly.

The first deadline for broadband stimulus applications is Thursday, Aug. 20. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service are disbursing $7.2 billion -- $4 billion of it allotted for the current deadline -- set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for broadband projects. Applicants must have initiated their electronic submissions by Aug. 14.

 

Andy Opsahl is a former staff writer and features editor for Government Technology magazine.