November 4, 2024

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar Announces First Round of Awards for Texas Broadband Pole Replacement Program

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today announced an initial award of about $18.5 million in grant funding benefiting 17 counties across the state as part of the Texas Broadband Pole Replacement Program. This initial funding will support the deployment of broadband to rural, unserved areas by partially reimbursing grant awardees who’ve replaced more than 11,000 poles that support retail broadband services. 

“Our agency is awarding this critical funding under our legislative directive to connect every Texan to broadband service,” said Hegar, whose office administers the Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO). “Ensuring all Texans have access to reliable, high-speed internet is important for Texas' continued economic growth and prosperity.”

In 2021, the 87th Legislature established the Texas Broadband Pole Replacement Program to support furthering broadband expansion in the state. Texas voters then passed Proposition 8 in November 2023, creating the Broadband Infrastructure Fund and dedicating $75 million in state revenue to the Pole Replacement Fund (PRF). In July, the BDO made the total amount allocated in the PRF available for award and began accepting applications to the program. 

Awardees include Bartlett Electric Cooperative, Charter Communications, United Electric Cooperative Services Inc. and MidSouth Electric Cooperative. The counties that will be served by these awardees are Anderson, Bell, Bowie, Delta, Erath, Franklin, Grimes, Henderson, Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman, Madison, Milam, Sabine, San Augustine, Van Zandt and Walker.  

To receive funding under the program, awardees were required to demonstrate they incurred eligible costs for removing and replacing existing poles to support retail broadband services that reliably meet or exceed broadband speeds of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and three Mbps upload. New poles reimbursed by this initial award, on average, can provide maximum symmetrical speeds of 1 gigabit or greater per second and are located in counties where approximately 18 percent of locations are identified as “unserved.”

Earlier this year, Hegar’s office announced a second round of the Bringing Online Opportunities to Texas program to further support broadband infrastructure projects that bring reliable, affordable internet service to the state’s most disconnected counties. The $729 million in potential grant funding could benefit more than 95,000 locations in 24 counties across the state. This pot of money is a combination of the federal Capital Projects Fund and state dollars from the Broadband Infrastructure Fund. The initiative could potentially connect up to 20 percent of Texans who lack access to reliable broadband.

The state Legislature established the BDO in 2021 and housed it within the Texas Comptroller’s office. As required by state statute, the BDO will continue administering the program and making reimbursements until all available funds have been expended to the benefit of Texans.

For other funding opportunities that will further address the needs of Texans and close the digital divide, visit BroadbandForTexas.com.