DETCOG Meets with County Residents to Improve Rural Internet

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY –  Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) held informal get-togethers with residents in order to confirm information to be sent to the federal government to increase funding for rural internet connections across Houston County. 

The group met with residents in Crockett, Kennard, Apple Springs and Lovelady asking locals to confirm simple information to be compared to a national database used to fund rural communities. 

Mickey Slimp is DETCOG’s Broadband Project Manager and led the information gatherings hoping to secure a bigger piece of federal funding for areas of East Texas where more investment needs to be made in broadband infrastructure. 

“The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put out a map they’re going to use for broadband all over the country,” Slimp explained. “And the goal in theory is to connect every house in the country to broadband. They’re going to look at every house and what kind of connection they have. If they don’t have a good connection right now, they will send money to the state of Texas to get that house connected.”

Slimp said confirming the information on maps made in distant Washington was where the public could help confirm the information. 

“We have looked at the maps. They’re better than they used to be. They’ve done some work on it, but they still have a lot of gaps. And so we want Texas to get all the money it needs to improve these connections.”

Slimp said the project involves around $40 billion and hope Texas will be able to secure at least $3 billion for rural internet. His goal was to get 10-15 corrections noted at each informal meeting to total a couple hundred in all to present to the FCC. 

Houston County Electric Cooperative’s (HCEC) Kathi Calvert was on hand to assist with interviews and promote the event. Calvert said the effort was organized quickly since the team was on a tight deadline. 

“There’s a very tight deadline. The maps were published right around the holidays and we have to review and dispute any issues by January 13,” Calvert said. “And this drives all the federal funding for this area and we are severely underserved. So we’re scrambling trying to make sure that we have access to funding in the future, whether it’s through our state broadband office or through federal funds to make sure our residents here in East Texas get high speed internet coverage.”

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]