Cameron County study finds high broadband cost; funding becoming available next year
Feb. 22—Expanding high-speed internet access countywide won't be cheap, as Cameron County commissioners learned during their Feb. 14 regular meeting.
During a virtual presentation to the commissioners court, Melissa Beaudry, of Cobb, Fendley & Associates (CobbFendley), the consulting firm hired by the county to conduct a study into expanding broadband access, discussed highlights from the completed, 83-page Final Broadband Access Study and Proposed Expansion Plan.
Among key takeaways: The price tag of $100 million on the high side to get broadband to every residence in the county.
Beaudry said the estimate is intentionally conservative due to the strong possibility the project will be more expensive than anticipated, especially if construction doesn't get started for a year or more.
"Supply chain issues are still very real in this industry and in industries across all construction sectors," she told commissioners.
Because the county is "quite large," the study's proposed "middle mile" infrastructure — essentially the backbone from which "last mile" broadband connections go out to residences and businesses — totals 178 miles, "which is a lot," Beaudry said.
Building just the middle mile is estimated to cost $17 million for materials and labor, she said.
The good news is that funding will be available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.
It includes $65 billion to expand affordable and reliable high-speed internet nationwide.
CobbFendley wrote the study based on a Federal Communication Commission "areas of need" map for the county, residents' responses to a survey the county issued to gauge internet service, and internet speed test results.
"And then the last mile, if we were to connect every home that was identified through that areas-of-need map ... and speed test data, it would be over $100 million in (optic) fiber connections," Beaudry said.
While the ideal scenario is to cover as much of the county in fiber as possible, realistically it's likely to end up being a combination of fiber and "fixed wireless," since all fiber would be prohibitively expensive, she said.
The project will require a public-private partnership between the county and a private internet provider, and the commission has already approved a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit responses from providers potentially willing to participate.
Once a provider is onboard, questions about fiber versus fixed wireless and other unknowns can be addressed, Beaudry said.
"Until we know which partner is willing to come to the table, we're not really able to give you that breakdown at the high level," she said. "That's why this is just the starting point, to get the providers to think through what is feasible for them and be able to respond ... to the county."
CobbFindley also will assist the county in evaluating responses to the RFP and helping submit grant applications for funding.
The study itself was necessary for the county to go after grants and pursue a public-private partnership with a provider.
In response to a question from Precinct 2 Commissioner Joe Lopez, who was concerned the county was late to the table funding-wise, Beaudry said that is not the case.
"The funding isn't even available yet," she said. "It is not even fully allocated to the state of Texas and therefore passing down to local government, so I definitely don't think that you're behind in any way. The funding is not coming down until probably early 2024."
