The Federal Communications Commission last week authorized $362 million in federal funding over the next decade to maintain, improve and expand affordable rural broadband to 311,000 unserved homes and businesses in Texas.
Three Milam County companies offering broadband won awards, including: Milam AMG Technology Investment Group—4,245 connections for $2,462,026; Milam CCO Holdings, LLC (Charter Communications)—33 connections for $9,228; and Milam LTD Broadband, LLC—9 connections for $12,297. That’s a total $2.4 million investment in broadband connections for Milam County which is sorely needed.
Sen. John Cornyn said rural broadband access is about far more than connecting to the internet. “It’s an issue of safety, of education, and of health for rural Texans,” he said.
It’s also an economic issue. Rural areas with pokey internet offerings have little to no chance of recruiting businesses. And today, most every business large or small is dependent on a strong internet signal to maintain connections to customers, suppliers and more.
This year’s auction of services allocated those funds to expand broadband to more than 300,000 unserved homes and businesses over the next decade. Nearly all locations in Texas that were eligible for the auction will receive access to broadband with gigabit speed. (That’s speedy.) The auction unleashed robust price competition that resulted in more locations being awarded at less cost to Americans who pay into the federal Universal Service Fund.
Cornyn is an advocate for rural Texas in this area, and he also has introduced the “Address the Rural Digital Divide” Act by creating a $10 billion state broadband program where governors receive funds based on the number of unserved individuals in their state. That would be significant for Texas. Governors then would partner with broadband service providers to build out their networks to this unserved population within three years of receiving the awards.
There are also provisions to help serve low-income Texans with much better service.
It may not seem like a speedy transition when we’re dealing with slow or poor service in parts of Milam County, but movement on this issue is welcomed.
“This historic auction is great news for the residents of so many rural Texas communities, who will get access to high-quality broadband service in areas that for too long have been on the wrong side of the digital divide,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. “We structured this innovative and groundbreaking auction to prioritize bids for high-speed, low-latency services to deliver the best results for rural Americans, and the results show that this strategy worked.”
This auction was the FCC’s single largest step ever taken toward delivering digital opportunity to every American. Like in the early days of phone line expansion or electricity service, rural Texans may be served last, but at least there is movement on serving these areas.—K.E.C.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.