High-Speed Internet Is Coming to Deep East Texas. A New Coalition Wants Locals Ready for the Jobs

For many families in Deep East Texas, getting a single web page to load on a phone can be a struggle. Video calls, streaming, telehealth visits and remote work are out of reach.

That is starting to change. Roughly a billion federal dollars are flowing into the region for high-speed internet, according to The Texas Tribune. Now local leaders want to make sure people can actually use it and get work from it.

A new coalition

The Deep East Texas Council of Governments, known as DETCOG, has launched the Pineywoods Broadband Coalition. It will promote technology education and workforce development across the region, part of a wider statewide push to bring broadband and tech skills to rural areas.

"Before we started this work, 50% of our region was underserved or unserved with high-speed broadband. We're starting to see that table flip, and it's good news," said Connor Sadro, the council's broadband director.

The council's board, made up of city council members, county judges and other leaders from 11 counties, proposed and approved the coalition at a Thursday meeting this month.

Three jobs for the coalition

Learning the basics. The first effort, digital navigation and adoption, would create training for people who have never owned a laptop. That means the basics: how to charge it, start it up and fix simple problems. It would also teach people how to use telehealth appointments and video chats.

Protecting old pipes. The second effort deals with the physical side of the buildout. The region's grants cover several kinds of service, including fiber optic lines and satellite internet such as Starlink. Satellite service will not disturb much on the ground, but fiber means digging. Fiber work has already damaged water and gas lines, many of them installed in the 1970s and never upgraded. The coalition would bring together experts to map where utility lines run so there are fewer surprises.

Jobs. The third effort is economic development and workforce. Bringing the region online could open work from fiber optic splicing to online certifications. "If we bring the internet to this region, if we fill that gap of 50% underserved and unserved then 10,000 jobs are on the table," Sadro said.

What it costs

Sadro said the coalition will not cost the council anything at first, since it has the resources and volunteers to start the work. If its plans later need money, leaders would look for local, state and federal grants.

The Newton network

The launch came as DETCOG celebrated the first phase of a regional broadband network that began in Newton County. The network will eventually cover six counties. The first phase should be finished by the end of November, said Lonnie Hunt, DETCOG's executive director.

"More than half of the beneficiaries who will be served by this project are low-to-moderate income households," Hunt said.

The first phase costs about $9 million. It comes from a $51 million grant from the Texas General Land Office, with a match from the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, which serves East Texas. The remaining $42 million will not be released until the next two phases are bid out, Sadro said.

The Newton project is one of several that grew out of a broadband study the council did in 2019. That study shaped how the region expands access and supported its grant applications.

Why it matters

A good internet connection is now as basic to rural life as a good road. It lets a rancher sell online, a grandmother see her doctor without a two-hour drive and a young person stay in the town where he grew up instead of leaving for work.

It is wise that East Texas is thinking past the cable to the people who will use it and the pipes that could be broken along the way. Building something to last means counting the cost first. For more on Texans starting their own ventures, see our look at the Texas small business boom.