Dwight Silverman

A Houston startup called Skylark Wireless is developing a new kind of internet service that relies on the unused frequencies normally associated with television stations. Known as TV white space technology, or TVWS, it’s seen as a real possibility to get high-speed data service to people in rural areas. While other companies are using TVWS to do rural broadband internet access, Skylark’s approach is unique.

MB Link, which has only been in business for about a year, offers 1-gigabit-per-second service to every residence in Mount Belvieu (TX). It’s run by the City of Mont Belvieu, a municipal broadband system in a state where many assume such an operation is forbidden by law.  But the city’s administrators, who say they could not get existing internet providers to expand service or step up their speeds, went to court in 2017 and got a state district judge to rule that broadband internet is a utility on a par with electricity and water service.