County authorized rural broadband funding

The Federal Communications Commission authorized over $362 million for rural broadband connection in Texas. 

Hays County will receive just over $1.3 million to support 2,527 locations via two bidders, LTD Broadband LLC, and Resound Networks, LLC.

“Access to broadband isn’t just about connecting to the internet.  It’s an issue of safety, of education, and of health for rural Texans,” Sen. John Cornyn said.  “I’m grateful to the FCC for recognizing the critical need for broadband in rural areas and for supporting the connectivity of more than 300,000 rural Texas households and businesses.”

The funding will be distributed over the next decade to maintain, improve and expand affordable rural broadband.

In Texas, the auction allocated more than $362 million in support to expand broadband to 310,962 unserved homes and businesses over the next 10 years. Nearly all locations in Texas that were eligible for the auction will be receiving access to broadband with gigabit speed broadband. The auction unleashed robust price competition that resulted in more locations being awarded at less cost to Americans who pay into the Universal Service Fund.

The FCC announced that an estimated 675,000 rural Americans living and working in Texas will gain access to high-speed broadband through the commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, according to auction results.

“This historic auction is great news for the residents of so many rural Texas communities, who will get access to high-quality broadband service in areas that for too long have been on the wrong side of the digital divide,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. “We structured this innovative and groundbreaking auction to prioritize bids for high-speed, low-latency services to deliver the best results for rural Americans, and the results show that this strategy worked. This auction was the Commission’s single largest step ever taken toward delivering digital opportunity to every American and is another key success in our ongoing commitment to universal service.”