TEMPLE, Texas — The Texas Broadband Development Office is asking Texans to take its survey pertaining to its plan to expand high-speed broadband internet access to many rural areas around the state.
On Monday, 6 News spoke with Texas Broadband Development Office Director Greg Conte to further understand why the state's input is needed.
"Texas has a vast, diverse plethora of issues that are happening within the digital opportunity space. So, we want to make sure that the strategies we're putting in place and the goals that we're setting and the metrics we're following, are aligned with community throughout the state," Conte said.
One of the goals in this expansion plan is to positively affect workforce development, education, health, accessibility of essential services, business, telecommunications and much more across the State of Texas.
"It's essentially the state's strategy for how to address that digital divide from the aspect of not just infrastructure but some of the other pieces of it, whether it's Including, you know, accessing reliable affordable broadband, access to devices, the digital skills training, as well as cybersecurity," Conte added.
According to the Texas Broadband Development Office there are around three million households or seven million Texans that don't have access to reliable broadband for many reasons. Conte told 6 News his team has been tasked with closing the digital divide.
"Take any problem you have and now take away the internet from that problem and it just magnifies it even more significantly," Conte said. "There are challenges that people in more urbanized areas don't consider when it comes to how rural Texans are handling this digital divide."
Conte said affordability is one of the biggest issues with broadband across the state and that's why they don't just need more infrastructure, but it needs to become reasonably affordable for Texans to use it.
Texans are encouraged to learn more about this plan and provide their input so that the development office can properly reflect and make changes if necessary.
To learn more about the plan and to access the survey, visit here.
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