The state of Texas received requests for $180 million in funding for its Bringing Online Opportunities to Texas (BOOT) rural broadband funding program. The program has a budget of $120 million.
Despite the strong interest in the program, however, less than half of the 9,407 areas eligible for funding received bids. Areas that received bids include 21,518 locations out of 35,920 eligible locations.
Proposed projects are in 62 counties.
The Texas Broadband Development Office (BDO), which is administering the BOOT program, is reviewing applications for completeness and to identify overlapping project areas. Applicants with overlapping projects will be notified, and all complete and eligible applications will be posted on the website of the Texas comptroller, the BDO said.
The BOOT program, launched earlier this year, was funded through the U.S. Treasury Capital Projects Fund.
The state received $363.8 million in CPF funds, and the BDO is planning additional funding rounds in the BOOT program.
Requests for funding under the BOOT Program had to be for at least $200,000 but less than $5 million. Funding recipients will be required to deploy service at speeds of at least 100 Mbps symmetrically unless they can demonstrate special circumstances that would merit slower speeds.
More Funding Coming
The news about the BOOT applications came just days after the Texas legislature approved an additional $1.5 billion for rural broadband deployments.
The allocation must be approved by voters in November, but those referendums rarely fail, according to a report published by local media outlet The Texan.
