Texas

Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 season to hit the U.S, spiraled 80 mile per hour winds through Houston, Texas, and is now heading northeast and beyond. More than 2 million people in Texas are without power. There are reports of outages on the AT&T and Verizon cellular networks in Texas in the wake of storm, as well as disruptions to Internet service providers such as Xfinity. Here’s what’s going on with the big three mobile operators:

I’m here today to urge you—city officials, business leaders, educators, digital equity advocates and city residents—to consider moving forward on building a city-wide, city-owned broadband network.  I was asked by a Texas Public Radio reporter a few days ago whether now was the right time, and I said—it’s past time. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it was that affordable, high speed broadband Internet access is essential for full participation in our society, our economy, our education and health care systems, and our democracy.

An unexpected volunteer, a geographic information system (GIS) mapping expert helped a rural community in Texas establish its broadband connection. Bernie South is the GIS volunteer who mapped the data using information from the Census, school district hotpost addresses and areas of growth in the county. South began volunteering with Bastrop County Cares during the pandemic to vaccinate people, he said.

Some fixed wireless providers are deploying fiber broadband in some areas, as illustrated by Rise Broadband. The company has made fiber broadband available to 60,000 residences and businesses in south Texas and 5,000 in Illinois. Rise Broadband said that its fiber Internet services are available to 25 communities in Texas.

The Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) became law in November 2021, allocating billions of dollars for upgrades and expansion of the nation’s infrastructure. Funding was awarded to various sectors including $65 billion for broadband.

North Texas Innovation Alliance is a 501(c)3 regional consortium of over 40 municipalities, agencies, corporations and academic institutions across North Texas working to create the most connected, smart and resilient region in the country. The alliance is re-launching the "Internet for North Texas Coalition” (I4NTX).

A blueprint for cities and counties to expand Internet access by leveraging a municipally-enabled, middle-mile fiber backbone without bearing the full burden of infrastructure costs. The approach could help bridge the persistent digital divide affecting numerous communities nationwide. Drawing on case studies from Fort Worth and Lake Cities (TX), and Joplin (MO) Middle Mile as a Catalyst highlights the efficacy of following this approach.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is partnering with rural cooperatives, local organizations and Tribes to support high-speed internet deployment in 11 states. USDA is awarding $5.2 million in cooperative agreements through the Broadband Technical Assistance Program, which is funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has accepted Texas’ Digital Equity plan. Using $3,110,150.00 from the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program, Texas created a plan aimed at addressing disparities in digital access, skills and affordability across the state.