A Grant for a Regional Broadband Infrastructure Development Plan

KILGORE – The East Texas Council of Governments has received a $375,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration. It will be used to help in the development of a regional broadband strategic plan for 14 counties in East Texas. They applied for the grant in December. They proposed to develop a strategic plan that will help identify and address existing gaps in broadband access for businesses across the region. The grant is issued to the East Texas Economic Development District, which is administered by ETCOG. With this grant, ETCOG and its local economic development partner agencies have committed to an additional investment of $161,000 in local matching funds. This bring the total project funding of $536,000.

ETCOG staff will now work 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. ETCOG has secured the services of TDC2, a Dallas based agency providing drafting and engineering services for the telecommunications community to support this initiative. The company will provide full broadband planning and support services for each project included within the final strategic plan. After the strategic plan is completed, each individual project within the plan will begin construction as soon as funding is secured.