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Posted on Mar 4, 2019 in Audio, Editorial, Featured, Your Texas Agriculture Minute

YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

 

Legislature addresses broadband internet in rural Texas

By Gene Hall

The internet is about more than web surfing or Facebook. It is now vital to commerce, health care and more.

For most of Texas, broadband access, as with a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or a cable modem, is easy to get and relatively inexpensive. If you live in a rural area, it might not be that easy or cheap.

As with electricity, telephones and cable TV in the past, the most populated areas get served first.

State lawmakers have filed bills to help bring high-speed internet to underserved rural Texas.

Sparsely populated rural areas struggle in terms of access and cost. Broadband can promote independent living with services like distance learning and tele-health care.

Broadband means less isolation and more business opportunities.

The internet has pulled the rest of America’s communications together. It’s time for it to happen in our vast rural areas, as well.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

You may read this week’s editorial above or listen to the audio version.

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