The Deep East Texas Council of Governments, one of 24 regional non-governmental planning commissions for the state, announced it is questioning the accuracy of the new Texas State Broadband Map, according to Red River Radio. The map will determine how Broadband Internet Funds will be distributed statewide. DETCOG is asserting that 46 census blocks in the 11-county DETCOG Region have significantly slower internet speeds than what the Texas Broadband Development Map currently shows.
Lonnie Hunt, DETCOG’s Executive Director said, “We have about close to 350,000 people in our 11 counties, that’s a lot of people but it’s spread out over an area of almost 10,000 square miles, we’re larger than several other states,” Hunt explained. “So it’s a lot of people but it’s sparsely populated.”
DETCOG, covering an eleven-county region, is citing evidence it gathered from over 3,000 households and businesses in Angelina, Houston, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, and Tyler Counties. Hunt said DETCOG’s efforts can amend the maps to assure that its region gets its fair share of the federal and state funding necessary for broadband development.
“We’re asking for things, we need jobs, we need economic opportunity, we need better education and healthcare,” Hunt said. “And we firmly believe that broadband is the key building block that makes that possible for the future of rural regions like ours.”
Broadband development for rural areas is a major part of the bi-partisan “American Rescue Plan” from the Biden Administration; an estimated $100 million dollars has been earmarked for Texas.
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