Chairman Wolens solicited commentary from all interested stakeholders through hearings this spring. In the meantime, the Governor's Broadband Policy Forum, joined by the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Public Utility Commission, has met several times with representatives of the private sector, government and consumer advocates to identify issues and solutions.
One idea that has surfaced is the possibility of using government demand for broadband as the anchor tenant to support broadband deployment -- a concept that Chairman Wolens presented in 2001.
It is clear that broadband access is an issue for both rural and urban areas, but the problems and solutions are different in many ways. Urban and rural parties are sharing ideas and information, and they appear dedicated to finding a solution.
An interesting point of discussion is the perception of broadband.
In urban areas, where high-speed Internet connections are available to almost anyone via the phone company or the cable TV company, the conversation centers on low cost availability to the home. Rural areas are talking about access to anything faster than a creaky 19.9kb dial-up connection.
The big issue for rural areas is "backhaul" -- the piece of the connection that gets them back to the Internet access points. This piece can get very expensive, and the industry does not want to make the investment without deregulation of the data market.
In other words, they don't want the same restrictions that they now have in the voice market. Under those regulations, they have to let competitors use their lines -- a disincentive to investment. On a positive note, wireless seems to be helping some outlying customers get online.
One thing everyone agrees on is that Texas has no unified, clear vision with regard to the deployment of broadband and related technologies. The governor's group has placed that item on its agenda for the next meeting.
Stan Reid is director of the Texas County Information Resource Agency
