Henderson County internet expansion threatened by cuts

HENDERSON COUNTY – According to our news partner KETK, recent federal funding cuts have put Henderson County’s plans to expand high-speed internet access into jeopardy. The county, Texas was originally slated to receive $3.3 billion from the federal government’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program but that amount was recently cut down to $1.3 billion.

“This reduction directly jeopardizes the county’s plan because Phase III relies on the federal BEAD money,” Henderson County said on Friday. “The county’s plan was designed to connect every resident to high-speed internet. Officials chose to split the work into three phases because the overall project is large and costly.”

County officials explained that the project’s second phase is currently in the process of connecting nearly 5,000 locations in rural Henderson County, thanks to $2.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and other state funds.

The third phase of the project would have used BEAD funding exclusively, so that internet companies could afford to connect the most remote and least profitable areas of Henderson County.

“The funding cut means the county is now ‘currently unsure’ of the direction Phase III will take,” Henderson County said. “The final projects were meant to cover the hardest-to-reach parts of the county. The changes also affect how internet companies decide where to build. The federal program removed rules that required companies to offer low prices to the economically underprivileged.”

There are currently no local funds set aside for Phase III of rural broadband expansion, so officials will have to find new funding if they wish to connect up the more than 82,000 residents of Henderson County.