The Covid-19 pandemic emphasized the necessity of high-speed broadband access with the rapid shift to online platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Telehealth services. Despite that necessity, over 2 million Texan households still live in “digital deserts” – the absence of broadband access – throughout the state. Texas Impact’s Light and Life primer discusses the severity of this public health issue, highlighting broadband as a super determinant of health as it’s interconnected to educational opportunities, employment, healthcare, and emergency awareness.
Insufficient broadband access continues to threaten the well-being of Texans; a 2019 analysis by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance found that four out of the five least interconnected cities in the U.S. reside in Texas. Parts of the Rio Grande Valley, like Brownsville, Pharr, and Harlingen, in particular, face large financial and technical barriers when accessing reliable broadband services. Therefore, the PUCT’s recent ruling can be beneficial to these unserved and underserved regions.
Broadband itself refers to the transmission of bandwidth data over high-speed internet connections using technologies such as – fiber, satellite, and wireless. Considering the growing understanding that broadband is a necessity, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 5 or “The Texas Broadband Bill.” HB5 created a Broadband Development Office within the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and a broadband development program, as well as requiring a regularly maintained broadband development map.
Most recently, the Public Utility Commission of Texas adopted its first middle mile broadband rule. This ruling enables electric utilities to lease out their excess fiber capacity to internet services providers across the state in order to increase access to reliable broadband for unserved and underserved communities. The commission defines unserved areas as areas where 80% or more of consumers have no access or lack access to reliable broadband services. And underserved areas as areas where broadband access exists, but 80% or more consumers in that region lack access to reliable and efficient broadband. The PUCT also embedded several ratepayer, consumer, and private property owner protections, such as preventing electric utilities from passing off any costs from the middle mile broadband service to their ratepayers.
The new rule’s adoption seeks to amplify reliable broadband access across the Lone Star State, modernizing areas stuck in digital deserts. Although the PUCT doesn’t regulate broadband itself, it regulates electric utilities, allowing these services to partner together with some oversight. “The infrastructure and equipment necessary are already in place. This simply allows collaboration by different industries to tap into it and bring more Texans online,” as stated by Chairman Peter Lake of the PUCT. The middle mile broadband rule is a step in the right direction toward overcoming some of the existing technical barriers that allow digital deserts to exist.