A resolution in support of Conterra Networks’ pursuit of a federal grant to help the county with its rural broadband expansion efforts was approved Tuesday by the Harrison County Commissioners Court.
According to the resolution, Conterra Networks plans to partner with the county and The East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) to accomplish the shared public policy goal by applying for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grant. The grant has been requested through ETCOG. The agency has been helping the counties it serves connect with funding opportunities as an effort to improve regional broadband access.
“We’ve been talking about grants and working with ETCOG to get much of this done, and there are a number of grants out there,” explained Harrison County Judge Chad Sims.
“This particular one requires you to be an Internet service provider to even apply for it. Well, we’re not an ISP neither is ETCOG, so Conterra is going to apply for it,” said Sims. “They’ve asked for our support, and certainly that’s what we’ve been working on this whole time is to try to get more fiber in the ground. It’s hard to reach some of these rural places without a federal grant.”
According to the resolution, on Nov. 15, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts into law, offering several streams of federal funding designed to address the national priority of adequate broadband access and service for all Americans.
“The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has been charged with the investment of these federal funds through a competitive grant application process in order to address several specific broadband needs and priorities,” the resolution explains.
Conterra will be applying for a grant under NTIA’s “Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program.” According to the resolution, the program is beneficial to and complimentary of the public policy goal of adequate and affordable broadband for all who reside within Harrison County.
Addressing the commissioners court Tuesday, Jeff Stuart, an account executive with Conterra, noted that in addition to the county, the Internet service provider has surveyed homes and reached out to local school districts to collect data and better assess the needs for the fiber.
“We’ve had data from other methods, meaning school systems and things like that. Other groups put out surveys as well, and we tried to compile that information for kind of a broader view of the best places to run these things,” Stuart explained as he reviewed a proposed map with the court.
“Our plan is to bridge the gap… and make kind of a ring around Harrison County in whatever way makes the most sense with the county and our company and other providers in the area,” said Stuart. “So as a provider, we’re going into this grant proposal letting them know we are working with the county… we’re not just going off our hip and putting stuff where we think is best. We’re actually engaging the county and the schools and the other organizations within the county where we can get the best bang for our buck, ‘the middle mile,’ and then we’ll have other providers come in and branch off of that middle mile to service fibers at home, fibers in communities…”
Although a separate project, Judge Sims said Conterra’s grant application will serve as part of the county’s continued efforts to partner with ETCOG in the broadband expansion project.
“It’s working in conjunction so that we don’t overlap and duplicate,” said Sims.
Stuart said Conterra has worked hand-in-hand with ETCOG before and looks forward to the continued partnership.
“We want the county judges to be involved; we want the county courts to be involved,” said Stuart. “We definitely want to make sure that we don’t get a grant to run a strand of fiber and then another company runs a strand of fiber on top of that. We want to provide what we can in the most effective way. And we’ve reached out to every organization. We have worked with school districts. We’re working with them and the court now to support all of our grant efforts to where we can show on our grant we’ve approached the county courts, we’ve approached the school districts, and we’ve approached the hospitals, the universities. We’re trying to build that very broad case for Harrison County in receiving these funds.”
He said Conterra wants grant administrators to see that the Internet service provider has full support.
“We want to make sure that they understand we’re not going at this on our own,” said Stuart.
Stuart said the Emergency Service Districts that are throughout the county, for example, could be an ideal basis point to start.
“Because those are highly populated areas out in the county, if we use those as basis points then that will be the way to go,” said Stuart.
Judge Sims said the grant will allow for an open network, most likely requiring Conterra to allow other providers to engage them and use their fibers in order to provide the other miles needed.
Sims said the county will be open to support any other provider that’s interested in applying for the same grant to help improve broadband access.
“In fact, if Etex wants to apply for this same grant, if Eastex (Telephone Cooperative) down in Waskom and Elysian Fields wants to apply for this same grant, I would ask them to come right here to the court and ask for our letter of support as well,” said Sims. “We’re not only supporting Conterra, we’re supporting any of the providers — Fidelity in Marshall, Longview Cable in Hallsville — all of them — we’ll support their grant applications.”
Stuart said Conterra has partnered with those same companies before to help fill in the gaps, when needed.
“Some places they provide us services, some places we provide them services to kind of fill in that gap we’ve had previously,” said Stuart.
He said Conterra wants to help wherever they can.
“We want the county to survive,” said Stuart. “I tell Judge Sims every time he and I are meeting together it’s where I live and he lives, so definitely [I’m] not someone from Dallas coming in here and asking for that. I want to see fiber down my road too, and we want to do everything we can to make that happen.”
Through the resolution approved Tuesday, the county confirmed its full support of Conterra’s application for the grant funding.
“Harrison County desires to participate and join with other local governments and partners for the purpose of effectively seeking regional solutions to common problems faced by nearly all jurisdiction in the East Texas Region,” the resolution states. “Harrison County recognizes the importance of adequate, affordable, and accessible broadband service in all fourteen East Texas Counties as a foundational prerequisite to our region’s ongoing economic growth, the provision of healthcare services and the provision of educational services.”
