Fiber Broadband Coming to Unserved & Underserved Homes & Businesses in Delaware

Over 3400 Sussex County homes will be getting broadband service when construction begins later this year. Two internet service providers – Verizon and Comcast – will begin construction in June once permitting and statements of work are finalized. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration gave final approval to Delaware’s plans and grant awards. The $17.4-million announced for the expansion grants are part of the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Work is expected to be finished by the end of 2027.

Additional information from Governor Bethany Hall Long:

Governor Bethany Hall-Long and the Delaware Department of Technology and Information (DTI) Delaware Broadband Office (DBO) today announced that construction will begin in the spring by two internet service providers to extend broadband service to more than 5,700 unserved and underserved homes and businesses throughout Delaware. 

The $17.4 million in funds for the announced expansion grants are part of the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, championed by Delaware’s congressional delegation. Delaware is one of the first states in the country to reach final approval. 

Construction by the two selected providers – Verizon and Comcast – is estimated to begin in June 2025 once permitting and statements of work are finalized. While BEAD allows up to four years to complete construction, work in Delaware is expected to be finished by the end of 2027. With this approval, Delaware is on track to become the first state in the country to be fully connected to high-speed internet under BEAD. 

“Most of the homes and businesses to be connected with these funds are in our state’s rural areas, and they have been living a different life than the rest of us in terms of being able to use the internet for work, school, healthcare and entertainment,” Governor Hall-Long said. “With the remarkable investment led by President Biden and our congressional delegation and the focus and hard work by Governor John Carney and DTI, we now have a timeline for when those Delawareans will be caught up.” 

The project will leverage nearly $90 million in private funding through a match from the internet service providers. Through an open and competitive process following two years of federal planning and approvals, DBO received a total of 21 proposals from five internet service providers to provide service to eight grant areas across the state. Comcast and Verizon have been selected to deploy high-speed internet infrastructure to these areas, which represent the final homes in Delaware without access to the internet or without another government program funding deployment of service.

These awards will provide the BEAD-covered 5,721 addresses with high-speed internet access across New Castle (554), Kent (1,720) and Sussex (3,447) counties. 

“Today’s approval is the result of years of diligent work to identify the parts of our state with access issues and provide targeted relief to our communities across the state,” said Chief Information Officer Greg Lane. “We are excited to move into implementation and continue Delaware’s proud history of closing digital divides and improving access to digital opportunity.” 

In June 2023, Delaware was awarded a total of $107 million from BEAD to build internet infrastructure and close the digital divide. These $17.4 million in awards will be sufficient to build wireline, fiber internet to all homes and businesses in Delaware that are eligible under the federal BEAD program to be served, meaning they do not currently have at least 100/20 MBPS internet access and are not part of another federal-funded internet expansion program.  

Following NTIA final approval, DTI will begin allocating the remaining BEAD funding to eligible uses. Such uses may include building internet and cellular network resiliency, increasing cybersecurity protections, expanding digital governance, and engaging in tech workforce development.