For the past 20 years, fast, reliable internet has been increasingly critical to GVEC’s commitment of delivering products and services to the areas we serve. More recently, the pandemic led to a dramatic increase in the degree to which people throughout our service territory depend on the internet for daily life. Society’s degree of online reliance was rapidly increasing before COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated this trend. Whatever surprises or advancements the future holds, though, one thing is certain: fast, reliable internet will continue to be a great need among communities.
The Texas Broadband Development Office: Government Extends a Helping Hand
State legislators have taken notice of this growing need. During the recently concluded legislative session, lawmakers passed two bills—HB 5 and HB 1505—that will help electric cooperatives expand broadband service to rural Texans. HB 5 created a Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO) that will offer grants and low-interest loans, along with other financial incentives, to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who expand broadband access into rural communities. HB 1505, meanwhile, helps electric cooperatives pay for necessary electric pole upgrades to expand fiber internet service in their communities.
Staying Ahead of Evolving Broadband Needs
The Texas Broadband Development Office defines “broadband” as a minimum 25 Mbps download speed and 3 Mbps upload. Over the past decade, GVEC has dramatically increased 25 Mbps coverage, making it available to a majority of our service territory. This includes ongoing expansion of and enhancements to our wireless service and continuing expansion of GVEC Fiber. Fiber can reach speeds up to 40x faster than 25 Mbps—1 Gbps. This is by design. The 25 Mbps baseline will likely increase in coming years, and we’re building infrastructure that positions our region to keep pace.
As of September 2021, GVEC has built roughly 1,000 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure across our service territory, with 20,849 GVEC Fiber home passings and 10,721 homes subscribed with both numbers growing steadily. We have 70,144 wireless passings, with 8,285 total wireless subscribers.
GVEC Member Needn’t Wait for High-Quality Broadband
GVEC welcomes the opportunity these house bills present to increase broadband coverage to underserved Texas communities. Any initiative that increases broadband availability to the underserved, no matter where in the state, benefits all Texans in the long run. We’ll be watching developments and announcements from the Texas Broadband Development Office closely, too, and look forward to working with them on future programs that may help us in continuously expanding and enhancing GVEC’s internet infrastructure.
Although our work is far from finished, we feel encouraged by our progress to date in delivering high-quality broadband to those we serve. Many years of planning, forward-thinking and tenacity by our Board and staff have made us a leader among cooperatives and other ISPs in our area. We’re thrilled that thousands of rural Texans beyond GVEC’s boundaries will gain the benefits of reliable broadband—benefits that are available across a majority of GVEC’s service territory right now.
I am always interested in your comments and feedback. Contact me by phone at 830.857.1152, by email at dschauer@gvec.org or by mail at P.O. Box 118, Gonzales, Texas 78629.
