The political sparring underscores how tenuous the state of broadband remains in Texas, where some 2.8 million homes do not have access to high-speed internet, according to the comptroller’s office.
Audience members take to their cell phones for an interactive program during a community workshop on flood planning hosted by the Texas Water Development Board Tuesday at Lamar State College Orange. Photo taken Tuesday, August 6, 2019 Kim Brent/The EnterpriseWASHINGTON — Gov. Greg Abbott was in Laredo last week touting his efforts to get the roughly 7 million Texans without broadband access online, something he deemed an emergency item in the last legislative session.
State officials are gearing up for a massive, federally funded buildout of the service, but have not figured out how to fund it in the long run. Comptroller Glenn Hegar is optimistic that the state will be able to get internet to every Texan, but cautioned that it might not be through the highest-quality fiber networks. He said getting a connection, even through lower-quality lines, is the first step as millions of Texans still cannot use the internet for school, work or telehealth.
The federal funding comes with a required 25 percent state or local match, and Hegar said he thinks the state can and should cover the match. But in recent years, that funding has dwindled as cell phone companies changed how they allocated costs. The fee that pays for the fund is assessed on telecommunications providers’ receipts for voice services, a charge that has become less relevant with the rise of unlimited voice plans and growing data plans.
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