(TNS) — For thousands of Texans living in the Rio Grande Valley, the so-called “last mile” — the final stop for broadband internet networks to residential areas — appears to be endless.
More than 2.8 million Texas households lack high-speed Internet access, but the problem is particularly acute in Silicon Valley, where only 46% of households have broadband connections, according to the Rio Grande Valley Broadband Alliance. While state and federal governments are sitting on vast amounts of cash to build high-speed networks, only a fraction of it has been allocated. Many of Texas’ broadband deserts remain dry.
Even if you live in a city lucky enough to have an internet service provider, a lack of competition means rates are often unaffordable, especially in Silicon Valley, where many residents live in chronic poverty. Some experts believe broadband access will become more affordable as state and federal governments shoulder the cost of laying fiber optic cables for internet service providers. But that was a few years later.
The federal government has already adopted a stopgap measure: creating a $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Plan through the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress in 2021. The program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission, provides low-income households with a $30 monthly subsidy to help pay for Internet service.
About 1.7 million Texans receive subsidies. That includes metropolitan areas such as Harris County, where nearly 240,000 households benefit from the program, but also sparsely populated areas in east and south Texas. In the Valley’s four counties – Starr, Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy – more than 200,000 households benefited.
However, despite the program’s success, it will run out of money by the end of May unless Congress acts. While the plan is no panacea, it is an important tool compared with the more arduous task of building fiber-optic broadband connections across the country, which is currently mired in government bureaucracy.
In fact, while Texas will receive $3.3 billion in broadband funding from the federal government in addition to the $1.5 billion in broadband infrastructure funds established by the state Legislature, the disbursement of these funds has been slow. The maps created by state and federal governments to determine broadband needs are riddled with errors and are slowly being revised. The only federal broadband project currently underway in Texas is a $17 million expansion project in Sabine County. The state broadband fund will fund connection upgrades, pole replacements and matching funds for the federal broadband program, but no funding has been provided yet.
Many areas in South Texas have grown impatient waiting for government money to fall from the sky or for private internet service providers to lay fiber optic cable in their communities. For some cities, affordable connectivity plans are more than just monthly utility discounts—they’re a critical building block in the larger puzzle of delivering high-speed internet to residents.
Take, for example, the city of Pharr, a city of 80,000 people located in Hidalgo County and home to the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge that connects Texas to Mexico. In some ways, Pharr is one of the worst broadband deserts in the country. The impoverished South Side is a dead zone with little cell phone reception.
Cindy Garza, the city’s director of external affairs, told the Editorial Board last week that Pharr students often need to buy a meal at Burger King to use the fast-food chain’s wireless network. Some people will sit on the steps of school after dark and type out entire articles on their phones.
“That’s why the city decided to make this one of our top priorities: We’re going to move forward on our own, we’re going to create our own public network,” Garza said.
This opportunity arises thanks to the Biden administration’s infusion of funds into cities through the 2021 American Rescue Plan. Farr officials earmarked $16 million in federal funds and added $48 million in revenue bonds to install hundreds of miles of fiber-optic cable as a municipal broadband network. The service was officially launched in June 2022 and currently has more than 5,000 subscribers. Monthly plans start at $25 per month, but high-speed access costs up to $80 per month. One-third of Pharr residents live in poverty, so to help these families pay for new services, the city is connecting residents through the Affordable Connectivity Program.
Garza told us that without it, Pharr’s municipal services wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. The show’s approximately 530 subscribers are crucial to spreading the message.
“This is a very important resource,” she said. “If we decided to wait for broadband funding to come in, we would still be waiting.”
This could be the fate of other cities if affordable internet plans expire.
A bipartisan bill to extend program funding through December has been stalled in committee. Even if it passes, Congress should establish long-term funding consistent with a four- to five-year timeline for completing the National Broadband Network.
Obstructors include U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. He was one of the Republicans who wrote to FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel in December, denouncing the Biden administration’s “reckless spending spree” and questioning why taxpayer money was going to “ Households that already had broadband before subsidies”.
The FCC disputed that claim, releasing a survey showing that nearly half of ACP recipients were either unconnected or relied solely on mobile service before receiving benefits. If inconsistent connections are included, this proportion increases to more than two-thirds. Cruz seems to fundamentally misunderstand the needs of his constituents.
While major cities with multiple internet service providers offer low-cost broadband options, areas with only one provider typically do not. The Texas Tribune reports that the cheapest monthly option from a provider in East Texas is $62. Perhaps, while running for reelection, Cruz could go around the broadband desert of East Texas and ask families living below the poverty line how much they pay each month for Internet, or if they have Internet at all. This might be enlightening.
The Affordable Connectivity Program has always been designed to provide temporary relief to communities lacking quality internet access. It makes no sense to end the program before the work of bridging the nation’s digital divide has begun.
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