The Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO) was created by the 87(R) Texas Legislature with the task of establishing an official statewide plan for expanding broadband access. BDO’s guiding principles in making this plan are as follows: on statement is connecting funding to the underserved broadband areas, encouraging connectivity to anchor institutions involved with broadband service, promoting coordination between private and public infrastructure owners, remaining technology agnostic, and also removing barriers between residential and business broadband adoption.
On June 15, the BDO released the state’s first ever Texas Broadband Plan. The plan aims to use federal funding through grant programs to communities and to develop a map of the broadband access across Texas. In the plan, the BDO outlines that broadband expansion will include federal entities, state/local entities, and private and charitable funds to accomplish the outreach to smaller communities where the access is most needed. Overall, by 2023, the BDO will:
- Establish a broadband-focused, federally compliant grant program
- Publish a broadband availability map, and
- Manage recurring coordination and communication opportunities across stakeholder groups.
A more detailed overview of the goals enumerated in the plan can be found below:
Establish Grant Programs
- Develop program strategies and submit materials and plans required to access federal broadband funding as well as apply for funding.
- Design the structure of a broadband grant program compliant with CPF, BEAD and Digital Equity program requirements.
- Establish and publish criteria for grant awards.
- Launch and execute the first wave of grant programs.
Increase Awareness
- Publish a list of funding programs available to organizations and individuals.
- Distribute a recurring newsletter to inform stakeholders.
- Promote transparency in BDO’s plans to initiate funds and implement programs through website, newsletter and periodic Board of Advisors public meetings.
- Continue to leverage surveys and toll-free phone lines to assess the needs of unserved and underserved communities.
Share Resources and Toolkits
- Assess needs and develop a resource center that provides information and materials to support the development of plans and applications to support the sharing of contacts, regional service providers, reports and insights and sharing of lessons learned and best practices. Resources to be developed include toolkits and templates to aid in the development of plans and applications.
Improve Coordination and Partnering
- Build on existing communications and outreach strategy to collaborate with key stakeholders.
- Create a task force or advisory board with representatives from communities in need.
- Continue to engage with state, county and municipal associations that may have a greater reach to communities through their local elected official members.
- Continue to engage with other state agencies that regularly serve communities and can help identify and engage with them.
- Utilize broad outreach efforts that demonstrates a targeted focus on communities throughout the state.
- Invest further in surveys, data collection and mapping initiatives to better understand gaps in connectivity and needs.
- Establish procedures and a data collection process in accordance with FCC rules to challenge FCC data when made available.
- Create, update annually and publish on the Comptroller’s website a broadband availability map.
Set Goals and Measuring Progress
- Establish state-level goals to measure progress against the dimensions of the digital divide: coverage, quality, affordability, devices and digital literacy.
- Embed goals and measures into grant programs established.
Identify Where Legislative Changes are Needed
- Identify cleanup language needed to HB 5 and HB 1505, 87th Legislative Session, to support the administration of ARPA and IIJA grant programs.
- Continue outreach efforts with ISPs, state agencies and local governments to identify potential legislative changes and opportunities to promote faster deployment of projects.
Understand Barriers to Deployment
- Foster coordination across community colleges, technical schools, universities and organizations to develop workforce development programs.
- Conduct an assessment of supply chain challenges and recommendations to mitigate.