San Antonio will leverage traffic lights to expand fiber network for students

The city of San Antonio will leverage traffic lights in its plan to connect 20,000 students’ homes to their schools’ wireless networks. “In order to get into a neighborhood, you have to go where the infrastructure is,” said Craig Hopkins, the city’s chief information officer. The city will build LTE wireless broadband connections off an existing fiber-optic cable network that runs for 1,000 miles above and below ground and links libraries, police stations, public safety radio systems — and remotely operated traffic signals. Using $27 million in federal coronavirus relief funds from the CARES Act, the city eventually will provide the wireless broadband to students in the 50 neighborhoods with the highest need, spanning eight school districts.