Rural Broadband Funding Solutions

ETCOG has been seeking rural broadband funding solutions for the East Texas Region since 2009.

In 2019, ETCOG was awarded $375,000 by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to support the development of a regional broadband strategic plan for its 14-county East Texas Region. 

Nuestra estrategia

ETCOG, through its East Texas Economic Development District (ETEDD), received funding from EDA to develop a grassroots regional broadband strategic plan. The grant will help the region capitalize on its strengths and opportunities related to long-term economic development, create or enhance an environment conducive to job growth, and improve infrastructure and overall community development to improve the quality of life. We launched this project in the winter of 2020 with the help of our contractors, TDC2 as a primary consultant and Design Nine as our broadband network planner.

With the $375,000 grant, ETCOG and its local economic development partner agencies have committed to an additional investment of $161,000 in local matching funds, for total project funding of $536,000. 

Project Approach

ETCOG is taking a grassroots approach, as outlined in the grant application, to build a regional broadband strategic plan. The project will include a survey of the business community within each county to establish a list of critical broadband needs. ETCOG staff will be working with each county to rank and prioritize projects that are proposed by business leaders and broadband providers to address the identified needs. Top rated projects in each county will be included within the final plan complete with associated budgets required to implement each project.