According to the State Comptroller’s office, BEAD grants will make it possible for almost every Texas location on the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map to connect to high-speed internet.
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The Texas Broadband Development Office will soon submit its final proposal to the federal government to invest approximately $1.3 billion in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program funds, according to an Oct. 16 release from acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock .
However, that amount is about $2 billion shy of the state’s original $3.3 billion BEAD allocation. Separate reporting also has indicated that SpaceX’s Starlink, the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is in line to become the single-largest ISP winner of Texas BEAD funds, as measured in number of locations.
According to media reports, Texas will award SpaceX $108.8 million to reach 63,963 of the state’s 240,200 broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) with low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
A separate company, Nexstream — a fiber provider — is the single-largest winner by funding, picking up $407.4 million to reach 32,091 locations, according to reports.
NEARLY ALL IDENTIFIED LOCATIONS TO RECEIVE ACCESS
According to the State Comptroller’s office, once implemented, programs funded by BEAD grants will make it possible for almost every Texas location on the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map to connect to high-speed internet for the first time.
The state’s final proposal (PDF) outlines how Texas will close its remaining broadband gaps by funding projects to connect almost 243,000 unserved and underserved homes, businesses and community anchor institutions across Texas, the acting comptroller stated.
“Reliable, high-speed internet access is essential infrastructure for a strong economy,” Hancock said. “This proposal will help ensure every Texas community can compete and thrive by empowering job creators, strengthening small businesses and giving families access to new employment and education opportunities. Texas is investing these federal dollars wisely and keeping our focus on results.”
Under the plan, about 123,000 unserved and underserved locations would be connected by end-to-end fiber technology, roughly 66,000 via low-earth orbit satellite and about 54,000 locations through fixed wireless.
Texas also has created a matching program using state funds to help small and mid-size providers compete, ensuring rural and hard-to-reach communities aren’t left behind.
All awarded projects will include strict timelines, regular progress reporting and clawback provisions to ensure effective use of funds and timely delivery of networks, according to the Comptroller’s office.
Meanwhile, an analysis by the New Street Research firm shows the overall majority of Texas BEAD funding (84 percent), and 51 percent of its locations, will go to a mix of fiber providers while 27 percent of its locations and 9 percent of its funding will go to LEO satellite, and 22 percent of locations and 7 percent of funding will go to fixed wireless access (FWA). No money was awarded for cable deployment.
Of the large providers, Frontier won $59.2 million to cover 8,143 locations; Charter won $47.8 million to cover 7,792 locations; AT&T won $32.2 million to cover 6,651 locations; and Brightspeed won $24.4 million to cover 6,413 locations.