LEONARDTOWN, Md. — On Tuesday, March 25, Comcast announced an expansion of its Xfinity and Comcast Business internet services into 5,800 homes and businesses, marking a significant development in Comcast’s broader plan of providing broadband internet services across St. Mary’s County. Ultimately, Comcast hopes to connect 30,000 residents and businesses to its internet services by 2028, which translates to somewhere between 25% and 30% of county residents depending on how businesses are counted.
In a public statement, Ray Roundtree, senior vice president of Comcast’s Beltway Region, wrote that “As St. Mary’s County continues to grow and attract new businesses, we are proud to bolster our investment in the region and bring our state-of-the-art network to thousands more residents and small businesses. Our network delivers gig speeds, world-class reliability, and the best Wi-Fi experience in and out of the home, and we’re excited to help more Xfinity and Comcast Business customers thrive in St. Mary’s County.”
The move has been welcomed by the president of the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County, Randy Guy, who wrote, “Expanding broadband access is a top priority for St. Mary’s County, and we are thrilled to see Comcast making this significant investment in our community. Connecting more than 30,000 residents and businesses to high-speed internet will strengthen our local economy, enhance educational opportunities, and improve the overall quality of life for our citizens. This expansion not only increases connectivity but also provides our residents and businesses with more choices for reliable digital access, ensuring they have the options they need to stay connected in today’s world.”
Speaking to The BayNet, a longtime resident of St. Mary’s County said that for a long time, there has only been a single internet service provider with no competition — Breezeline — and that service often suffers from connectivity issues that cause the internet to go in and out. Attempts to expand internet access would sometimes have the opposite effect, as incorporating a new household into an existing network would grant better internet access to that new household, but might cause connectivity issues in other houses in the neighborhood.
Before expanding into neighborhoods, Comcast will sometimes ask local HOAs about general interest among residents in expanding Comcast services into the area. In one recent case in Leonardtown, a poll was circulated by an HOA with three options: “I’m happy with Breezeline,” “I’m not interested in either,” and “I’m interested in learning more about Comcast.” Out of 47 responses, zero respondents chose “I’m happy with Breezeline,” zero respondents chose “I’m not interested in either,” and 47 respondents chose “I’m interested in learning more about Comcast.”
When asked about whether they thought Comcast would do better than the current or previous internet services, the resident said, “Well, nobody knows, but we’re willing to try it because we’re tired of this.”
Also worth noting is that Comcast has donated $47,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Maryland and The Arc Southern Maryland as part of its expansion project into Leonardtown, with the investment going toward “helping people build digital skills, accelerating career development opportunities and funding connectivity and internet adoption programs.”
The fact that Leonardtown was chosen as a focal point of Comcast’s expansion of its services in the county reflects the development and growth Leonardtown has seen in recent years. The town’s population has grown by 70% since 2010, and in 2021 it led the entire state of Maryland in growth percentage — referring to the growth in the land area occupied by the town — growing in size by 28.9% since 2011, according to the Maryland Department of Planning.
Below is the official press release from Comcast:
Comcast today announced it connected the first residents in Leonardtown, MD to Xfinity and Comcast Business services. These are the first of 5,800 homes and businesses that Comcast is connecting to reliable, high-speed, symmetrical, Internet in the Leonardtown area.
This expansion in Leonardtown deepens Comcast’s investment in St. Mary’s County, MD – where the company is undergoing a broader network expansion – ultimately connecting more than 30,000 residents and businesses across the county to Xfinity and Comcast Business services for the first time.
Xfinity and Comcast Business services are already available to thousands of addresses in St. Mary’s County. The company expects to reach a milestone of connecting 50 percent of residents and businesses included in the expansion project by summer 2025, and to complete the entire project by 2028. Residents can visit Xfinity.com/mytown and enter their addresses for additional details on construction timing and upcoming service availability.
“Expanding broadband access is a top priority for St. Mary’s County, and we are thrilled to see Comcast making this significant investment in our community,” said Randy Guy, President of the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County. “Connecting more than 30,000 residents and businesses to high-speed Internet will strengthen our local economy, enhance educational opportunities, and improve the overall quality of life for our citizens. This expansion not only increases connectivity but also provides our residents and businesses with more choices for reliable digital access, ensuring they have the options they need to stay connected in today’s world.”
“As St. Mary’s County continues to grow and attract new businesses, we are proud to bolster our investment in the region and bring our state-of-the-art network to thousands more residents and small businesses,” said Ray Roundtree, Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Beltway Region. “Our network delivers gig speeds, world-class reliability, and the best WiFi experience in-and-out of the home, and we’re excited to help more Xfinity and Comcast Business customers thrive in St. Mary’s County.”
What It Means for the Leonardtown Community
Comcast’s commitment to communities goes beyond building the network and aims to increase economic mobility for the local community and its residents. That’s why Comcast created Internet Essentials, a broadband adoption program that offers eligible households low-cost, high-speed Internet and affordable computers.
Additionally, Comcast is deeply committed to advancing digital opportunity in the communities it serves and announced a donation totaling $47,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Maryland and the Arc Southern Maryland – two local nonprofits with facilities in St. Mary’s County. These investments are focused on helping people build digital skills, accelerating career development opportunities and funding connectivity and Internet adoption programs.
A Network You Can Trust to be Reliable, Fast and Secure
Comcast’s state-of-the-art network is built to enable residents and businesses to thrive in today’s constantly connected world. Leonardtown joins the 64 million homes and businesses across the country to have access to a network that is trusted by essential community organizations like hospitals, schools, transportation systems and first responders. It delivers gigabit Internet speeds, 99.9 percent reliability and built-in security to help keep customers safe from cyber threats.
Introducing Xfinity for Consumers
Comcast’s residential services are marketed under the Xfinity brand, and consumers in Leonardtown can take advantage of Xfinity’s full suite of products, including Internet, video, mobile, voice and home security. With gigabit Internet speeds, powerful WiFi that reaches every corner of the home, and super-responsive connections with low lag available with Xfinity plans, customers have a great experience using their connected devices to stream their favorite sports and entertainment content, video chat with coworkers and friends, learn from home or simply surf the web.
Comcast Business to Power Leonardtown
For local businesses, Comcast Business offers a suite of connectivity, communications, networking, cybersecurity, wireless, and managed solutions to help organizations of all sizes achieve their business goals. Industry analysts and associations have consistently recognized Comcast Business as a leader and innovator in flexible, scalable options as well as one of the fastest-growing providers of Ethernet services.
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