MCALLEN, Texas - Telecom giant Charter Communications, known to many as Spectrum, does not like the City of Brownsville’s new multi-million broadband network project.
That was made clear by Todd Baxter, Charter’s group vice president for state government affairs.
Baxter made his company's views known in a Q&A with reporters at a press conference hosted by Connect the Future Texas. Charter Communications are co-founders of Connect the Future Texas. The press conference, held at the College of Health Care Professions in McAllen, was staged to present Gov. Greg Abbott with a "Broadband Champion" Award.
The question about Brownsville's eagerly-anticipated broadband project was posed by Ron Whitlock of Ron Whitlock Reports. It was first directed at Abbott but the governor asked Baxter to respond also. Whitlock posed this question:
“You talk about flexibility. The City of Brownsville had to take matters into their own hands. The City of Brownsville is developing a scaled-up broadband network without the help of big telecom companies. Do you, Governor, have any preference on how the state of Texas gets fully wired? One, is it primarily the role of the private sector? Two, do public-private partnerships work best? Or, three, can cities develop a gigabyte high-speed broadband network on their own, effectively taking the view that broadband is a public utility?”
Abbott responded:
“Well, listen, the bottom line is broadband is important for everybody. As Todd Baxter will tell you, the way it is delivered is different for different people. In most urban settings broadband is readily available. And I would categorize Brownsville as an urban setting. Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, etc., are urban settings. Most of which have good access to broadband with some exceptions in those locations.
“A primary goal of the legislation that we passed, a primary goal of the half a billion dollars that we provide in funding is to make sure that those with no access to broadband whatsoever are going to be able to get it. Those who live in rural settings, like those that were mentioned in Penitas, they are going without it and they need it. That said, there are multiple platforms that are available to make sure that those in Brownsville will be able to get that and the best person to be able to tell you about that is Todd Baxter.”
Baxter responded:
"I appreciate that question because, in fact, Brownsville is very well served and ubiquitously served by the private sector right now. So, I think a really good question that should be asked is, should government money be being used to over-bill the private sector to build redundant networks when, in fact, local governments should be looking to partner with the private sector, who already has networks in those towns. And so I would question whether that is actually a good use of taxpayer dollars. I think that is the question that should be asked.”
A couple of weeks before Gov. Abbott received his award from Connect the Future Texas, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar was in the Rio Grande Valley on a fact-finding mission. Hegar has been asked to develop a statewide broadband plan by the Texas Legislature.
Hegar held his fact-finding session at UT-Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg. One of the first people Hegar heard from was Noel Bernal, city manager for the City of Brownsville. Bernal defended Brownsville’s plan, arguing that the city had to step in because of “market failure.”
Bernal said: “When market failures occur, typically, government steps in to provide a public good. So, imagine the state without TxDOT. Imagine the state without having the Texas Water Development Board. Where you provide essential utilities, for highway, water, and wastewater.”
Broadband should be considered in the same light, Bernal argued.
“So, here we are, early part of the 21st Century, doing the same with one of the largest (broadband) projects in the state. Here in a couple of months we break ground in a $90 million dollar network. Twenty million in public investments, $70 million in private equity,” Bernal said.
“We have learned a lot more of ourselves than what the federal government understood about us because of misleading and inaccurate FCC mapping. But, we have also learned a lot about the private sector. We have learned that the private sector did not and does not have any intensions of investing in fiber and broadband in our community.”
Editor's Note: The above news story is the first in a four-part series on broadband infrastructure in the Rio Grande Valley. Part Two will be published in our next edition.
Editor's Note: The main image accompanying the above news story shows Todd Baxter of Charter Communications seated to the left of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (Photo credit: Ron Whitlock/Ron Whitlock Reports). Baxter and Charter Communications are part of Connect the Future Texas. Connect the Future Texas held an event at the College of Health Care Professions in McAllen to present an award to Abbott.
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