Lone Star Broadband: High-Speed Access and Economic Development in Rural Texas
By Rajasvini Bhansali and Sara Meadows Tolleson
The following article was published in the Fall 2002 edition of the NATOA Journal of Municipal Telecommunications Policy, and was reproduced with the express permission of that publication.
Background
In 1995 the Texas Legislature created the $1.5 billion Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) to increase high-speed connectivity and the availability of information technology throughout the state. The underlying premise of this venture was the belief that an advanced telecommunications infrastructure is essential for the success of future economic development efforts, in addition to healthcare and educational services. Recognizing the geographic disparity in the availability of advanced telecommunications services, rural and underserved communities were given priority in project funding.
Since its inception, the TIF Board has spent $965 million wiring much of the state's vast rural landscape. This financial commitment has resulted in the implementation of dozens of community networks and high-speed connections to schools, hospitals and libraries. Now, seven years later, as the Fund nears its statutorily mandated sunset review, state lawmakers are looking for results. Policymakers are reviewing, among other performance indicators, whether the massive fiscal outlays have indeed served to aggregate consumer demand and bolster local economic development efforts, as intended by the authorizing legislation.
In February 2002, the House Committee on State Affairs issued a memorandum to interested parties, requesting feedback on ten questions regarding state broadband policy. Of these questions, one was related to the parties' assessment of TIF's success. These issues are not only of interest to state legislators. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has also attempted to determine the extent to which rural and underserved communities have sufficient access to broadband technology, how successful they have been in securing high-speed service from providers, and in cases where broadband is available to remote consumers, how it is serving to bolster rural economic development.
Lone Star Broadband (www.lonestarbroadband.org)
In August 2001, the PUCT contracted with a research team of graduate students, under the faculty supervision of Professor Gary Chapman, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, to research broadband and economic development in the state. The primary objective of this project was to develop a "telecommunications toolkit" for rural Texas economic development leaders and elected officials interested in securing high-speed services for their communities. Released in May 2002, this toolkit, which can be found at http://www.lonestarbroadband.org, features "stories" of rural Texas communities that have secured or are in the process of securing broadband services. Based primarily on personal interviews with local business, economic development and community leaders, the purpose of these stories is to provide models of community-based broadband initiatives. Further, they demonstrate the ways in which communities are successfully utilizing broadband to implement their economic and community development strategies. The toolkit also offers a variety of other broadband-related resources, the most notable of which is the "Broadband Checklist," a how-to guide for obtaining high-speed Internet access in rural Texas.
Rural Success Stories
Among the communities highlighted in the toolkit, several stand out for their innovative integration of telecommunications into their economic development vision. These communities are forging meaningful networks and connections, despite significant challenges in securing broadband service.
Sanderson, Texas
Billing itself the "Cactus Capital of Texas," the small town of Sanderson, located in the Big Bend area of west Texas, 65 miles from anywhere, is committed to providing its citizens with a link to the rest of the world through the Internet. Local leaders are all too aware that large businesses are not likely to relocate their massive operations and hundreds of employees to Sanderson. Instead of attempting to lure these employers, the community's economic development strategy focuses on filling occupational gaps by attracting new residents, "one family at a time." Some of the current gaps the community hopes to fill (i.e. engineers, doctors and graphic designers) require high-speed service for the professionals to effectively and efficiently perform their jobs in a remote area.
Project leaders also plan to use broadband to enhance local workforce development programs and generate tourism by attracting visitors to Sanderson's existing and future attractions (e.g. fossil hunting expeditions, a refurbished train depot and a wilderness hiking trail). Broadband services will help the community market its resources to prospective employers, prospective residents and tourists. More information is available at http://www.lonestarbroadband.org/stories/sanderson.htm
Harlingen, Texas
Despite being a city in the fastest growing region of Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, Harlingen lacks coordinated access to advanced services. The area's telecommunications landscape is described as having "isolated islands of bandwidth," where broadband is available for individual entities but is not accessible to the community at large. As with many communities along the Texas-Mexico border, socioeconomic indicators point to the critical need for improvement in areas such as education, health care and workforce development. From the perspective of local leaders, enhanced data services offer opportunities for directly addressing those needs.
Their primary interest in implementing a high-speed community network is to integrate the communications of municipal emergency services, whose systems are not currently aligned. Additionally, they intend to use increased access to market the city to relocating businesses, particularly large manufacturers who could benefit greatly from Harlingen's proximity to the Mexican border. Lastly, the vast potential of high-speed services for reaching the often-disenfranchised Mexican migrant population creates a unique opportunity for local government to offer social and civic content in an accessible format. More information regarding Harlingen's broadband plans is available at http://www.lonestarbroadband.org/stories/harlingen.htm.
Kilgore, Texas
Despite its small size and remote location in east Texas, Kilgore has secured broadband services for the entire community by skillfully aggregating the demand of local industry. Through the advocacy efforts of the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce and the Kilgore Economic Development Corporation, this east Texas town has negotiated with smaller providers to offer reliable, quality service to local business and residents at affordable prices.
Having broadband access has enabled Kilgore to stay on the list of potential corporation expansion and relocation sites. The availability of broadband access and the specific services in place are part of the marketing package Kilgore employs to attract new industry. In addition to retaining and recruiting employers, the availability of alternate telecommunications providers has had a positive impact on the city's relationship with the incumbent provider. The incumbent provider has become far more willing to provide information, discuss solutions and offer better customer service, with the entrance of new competitors into the market. For the rest of the Kilgore story, please visit http://www.lonestarbroadband.org/stories/kilgore.htm.
Conclusions
Community Technology Vision
Successful economic developers realize that demand for broadband has to be stimulated and aggregated to build capacity and to attract investment in telecommunications infrastructure. Active participation in building demand must be solicited from community members, who in turn, must view themselves as strategic partners in the effort to secure advanced services, both as producers of new information and as consumers of improved services. Once the legacy of rural disconnect is reversed, there is great possibility for building capacity in rural Texas.
Focus and Local Leadership
More and more communities in Texas are realizing that a well-defined and focused initiative is necessary to demonstrate market potential for broadband services in rural areas. In our research, the most successful communities were those that rigorously assessed demand and community potential before inviting providers to wire their community. Most often a committed local champion with credibility and connections proved to be indispensable to the process. These champions were often responsible for soliciting cooperation and political support.
Information Sharing
Public libraries, health organizations, schools and universities, local community groups, non-profit organizations, public radio and television outlets are only some of the public entities that act as economic development partners in Texas¹ rural communities. Still, a network that works together toward a common goal of broadband-based economic development strategies is noticeably absent in Texas. There are rich islands of information and resources that exist within the state among vast underserved areas. Because best practices are not often shared among localities, rural economic development officials expend unnecessary energy "reinventing the wheel" in their attempts to obtain broadband service and maximize its potential. For effective networks to be formed, a shift in the organizational structures and cultures toward more collaborative activities and shared resources will need to occur.
Community Education
Education and training are absolutely vital to aggregate demand. Further emphasis must be placed on assessing current demand and discerning the factors responsible for its perceived shortfall. Once these factors are determined, local leaders may begin to address the education gap among rural users. Stakeholders and economic developers will need to be particularly tuned in to the needs of the community to produce sustainable training and education. Technical training institutes, community colleges, small businesses, business councils, economic development councils, trade associations, service resellers, libraries and community centers are all key players in this process.
Meaningful Content and Metrics
Along with the infrastructure, broadband applications must be created that are relevant and useful to local conditions. Broadband deployment and subsequent economic development must improve the standard of living and well being of citizens and decrease social stratification between those who possess the "know-how" and those who do not. Lastly, effective metrics for measuring the impact of high-speed services on community economic development should be developed so that we can learn from our mistakes.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the research and content that their colleagues from the LBJ School of Public Affairs contributed to this article and to the development of Lone Star Broadband. These individuals are as follows: Professor Gary Chapman, Cyril Dadd, Tom Hooper, Steven E. Johnson, Barbara Scroggie Knaggs, Wendy Lathan, Laure McLaughlin, Megan Parry, Jeremy R. Pearcy, Lisa Sheppard, Ahrey Smith and Voiteh Yaroshevich.
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December 2002
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December 2002
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