Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples July 27 announced a partnership between the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) and Connected Nation, a national nonprofit, to create a broadband initiative called Connected Texas and to develop a detailed broadband inventory map showing where broadband services are and are not available in Texas, down to the street level. The aim is to better position Texas for competitive funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the ARRA -- the so-called "stimulus").

 

The map is expected to serve as a key asset for the state as it prepares for federal stimulus funding to support broadband investment. It will be based on information from Texas' cable, telephone, wireless Internet service providers, rural cooperatives, and municipalities. Connected Texas’s mapping project will use broadband data collection, GIS analysis, and data verification to determine where broadband service is currently available to Texas households statewide and, more importantly, the gaps in coverage where households are not served by any broadband provider.

 

Staples said that Connected Nation will “help Texas close the digital divide between urban and rural communities in our state. By creating a broadband map, we will learn which areas are unserved and underserved. This critical knowledge will lead to developing projects that bring high-speed Internet to all Texans, which will enhance economic development, expand educational opportunities, and improve health care.”

 

“The federal government has set the expectation that states must be able to illustrate the extent of broadband coverage in order to prioritize broadband stimulus investments for unserved and underserved areas,” said Brian R. Mefford, Connected Nation’s CEO. “Our partnership and the creation of a broadband map will provide Texas the opportunity to address the areas of Texas where broadband is not readily available. This will better position Texas for the broadband opportunities provided by the ARRA.”

 

Currently, more than $7 billion is available through the ARRA for broadband projects nationwide. In the ARRA, $350 million fund the federal Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2008, so states can develop public-private partnerships to expand broadband and computer use to more remote areas.