I’m excited to announce GVEC is near completion of its second E-rate project as installation of Fiber Internet for Moulton ISD is on track to be finished later this month. E-rate is a program through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that provides discounted, high-speed internet access to schools and libraries based on financial need. The program helps to ensure these institutions have the means for affordable telecommunication and information services.
GVEC completed its first E-rate project at Stockdale ISD in 2018. As a result, the districts bandwidth increased from 45 Mbps to 500 Mbps with our Fiber Internet service. Competition of the Moulton upgrade will increase the district’s speeds from 100 Mbps to 750 Mbps.
While the FCC’s E-rate program is not new, GVEC became active with the program after meeting with a consultant who emphasized the scarcity of quality high-speed internet among some of the school districts in our area. Through the program, discounts for internet access and telecommunications services offered to public schools and libraries can range from 20 to 90 percent.
For the Moulton project, the FCC’s 80% construction reimbursement, along with 10% state-committed funding that the FCC then matched, meant 100% of construction costs for GVEC Fiber Internet service was met. This resulted in saving district $317,564 to gain access to the fastest internet technology available.
By expanding Fiber into the local areas of school districts we contract with through E-rate, we are strengthening our electric grid as well, benefiting the GVEC membership as a whole. Fiber enhances communications along our electric grid by allowing compatibility with more technologically advanced systems. An example of one such system is the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SACDA) software that we began implementing across the grid last May, which is designed for fiber-based communication.
SCADA software helps connect, monitor and coordinate the many parts of GVEC’s electric grid. This allows us to monitor our grid in real time, helping prevent some power outages and, in some cases, making it possible to locate and automatically self-heal certain kinds of outages. These types of benefits not only help reduce the occurrence of some outages, but also their duration and the number of members affected.
GVEC is proud to be part of the benefit that E-rate adds to the communities we serve. Providing students in our area with the necessary internet access to enhance their education is an important endeavor.
I’m always interested in your questions and feedback. Contact me by phone at 830.857.1152, email at dschauer@gvec.org or by mail at P.O. Box 118, Gonzales, TX, 78629.
