A recent survey conducted by a national research organization reveals that a majority of Rio Grande Valley residents would prefer a public-private partnership between a local government and private sector internet service provider to provide high-speed internet service.
The alternative would see local governments spending federal funds to build government-owned high-speed internet networks to connect public and government buildings, which some governments in the RGV are considering, according to Rossanna Salazar, Ross Communications managing partner.
The survey by Baselice & Associates Inc. was conducted from May 19 until the 23 and consisted of 600 interviews between Cameron and Hidalgo County.
Initially, 66% of those interviewed said they would prefer to see their local government form a partnership with a service provider in order to provide internet to local residents and after learning more about it, the percentage shot up to 71%.
Of those 600 respondents, 19% said they would like their city or local government to use federal dollars to build, own, operate and maintain a middle-mile network, which refers to the connection between last-mile networks and the point at which internet backbone services are available, that provides internet to government buildings but not local residents.
Though that percentage shrank to 16% once the respondents learned more of the public-private partnership which would allow high-speed internet to be provided to residents who live in unserviceable areas in the Valley.
According to J.D. Salinas, AT&T vice president of external affairs, the company has already invested over $120 million in the Valley’s infrastructure creating the possibility of providing internet to all residents.
Reasons why a local government owned network would be less popular is because they often fail due to lack of expertise and money which is why partnering with a provider, who have technical experts to help with issues, would come without cost or risk to taxpayers.
Salazar says support for a partnership is widespread as 68% of Hidalgo County and 64% of Cameron County are for this option.
