Of all the things on Gov. Greg Abbottâs list of priorities, the call for broadband internet might be the most popular in the state Legislature. But fixing the problems of accessibility and affordability will be expensive and time-consuming.
And itâs not a new problem. The governor has had a task force working on it; theyâve already issued a report. A majority of the members of the Texas House spotlighted the issue in a letter to Abbott last September. And a related telecommunications dispute at the Public Utility Commission is tied up in court, potentially threatening phone service in some rural areas of the state and with it, access to broadband internet.
Analysis: Texas tries to make the connections on broadband internet
Texas Tribune
Tags: Some of the state’s smallest phone companies depend on the state’s Universal Service Fund an account filled by a tax on local phone lines to subsidize the higher costs of getting telephone service to the less populated parts of Texas.
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune
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Internet, phone services in rural Texas threatened as state slashes subsidies for providers
Neelam Bohra
The Texas Tribune
Some rural Texans are facing the threat of losing phone and internet service after the state recently slashed subsidies that help providers offer service in sparsely populated areas.
More than a million Texas households are in rural areas where network phone service is more expensive to provide, with fewer customers and longer distances between them. Broadband internet service is not subsidized but is often provided on those same lines. Normally, the state reimburses telecommunication companies for providing service in these areas through the Texas Universal Service Fund. But for the past five years, the fund has been bleeding money.
Rural phone companies file suit against Texas PUC
E-T staff report
Nearly 50 rural Texas telephone companies have filed a lawsuit against the Public Utility Commission of Texas, accusing the state regulatory agency of illegally withholding universal service fund (“USF”) revenues crucial to maintaining the statewide telecommunications network in rural areas.
The lawsuit contends the PUC’s action was taken in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, through illegal rulemakings, and in direct contradiction of existing state law, according to a news release from the Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative Inc.
The rural telephone companies and their customers cover more than 55% of the geographic area of the state of Texas, and allege that without this vital funding, telecommunications service to customers in rural areas of the state is placed in jeopardy.
Rural Texas telephone companies sue PUC for illegally withholding revenues
VIDEO: Rural Texas telephone companies sue PUC for illegally withholding revenues By Tamlyn Cochran | January 21, 2021 at 4:13 PM CST - Updated January 22 at 1:44 AM
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Almost 50 rural Texas telephone companies have filed a lawsuit against the Public Utility Commission of Texas, accusing the state regulatory agency of illegally withholding universal service fund revenues crucial to maintaining to statewide telecommunications network in rural areas.
State of Texas; and allege that without this vital funding, telecommunications service to customers in rural areas of the state is placed in jeopardy.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Travis County District Court in Austin, requesting an emergency restraining order for a judge to declare “void” the commission’s illegal funding reduction to the Legislature’s laws which mandate funding for services to primarily