Bringing Online Opportunities to Texans With Broadband—And Federal Funding

While expanding broadband access throughout Texas is a priority for Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX), part of his More Prosperous Texas initiative, the governor's record on connectivity is mixed. Texas faces two simultaneous challenges. First, there remain barriers to access which are particularly prevalent in rural areas of the state. Second, even where broadband is available, there remains a substantial portion of Texans who have not adopted or subscribed to broadband in their homes. The largest broadband providers in Texas are generally historic corporations that continue to rely on legacy networks, limiting the quality of service offered. Among the top 10 providers in the state by household coverage, only AT&T and Frontier provide fiber to a meaningful share (approximately 50 percent of the households they cover) of their networks. Others rely on DOCSIS 3+ and legacy technology, which may meet current government speed standards but are not future-proof. Similarly, there are 4.4 million households in Texas that are served by only a single internet provider. This lack of competition contributes to poor quality internet and service affordability.