Nearly 6,000 homes and businesses have been connected to broadband in Delaware in the last year.
Thanks to American Rescue Plan Act Funding, 5,859 homes and businesses – mainly in rural areas of the state – now have high-speed internet available for the first time.
There are still 372 locations on the list to be installed, and that should be done over the next few months.
In all, the state is spending $33 million in ARPA funds on this effort.
"6000 folks who didn't have any access before or only had access to really slow internet you know dial up that we used to have back at the turn of the millennium and have been kind of surviving on that, but now they're going to have access to telehealth, to growing their skills for their jobs, their kids can do remote learning. It's really an incredible thing that is now accessible to more Delawareans," said Roddy Flynn, Delaware Broadband Office Executive Director.
But the state is not stopping there.
Flynn says more federal funding will allow them to continue.
"Next phase is the remaining 8600 addresses in Delaware that don't have access to high-speed internet, and we're going to do that using another pot of money. President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law allocated $107 million to Delaware, which is a lot of money, but these are pretty rural addresses. Very expensive to connect,” said Flynn. “But we're going to get the job done."
Flynn notes the goal is making Delaware the first state that is completely connected universally to high-speed internet.
