BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH INTERNET PROVIDER

  

The Brenham City Council is moving to address one of the public’s frequently mentioned concerns: the availability of high-speed internet.

City Manager James Fisher
(Mark Whitehead)

In one of its executive session items Thursday, the council approved a performance agreement with Nextlink Internet. The agreement with the Brenham Community Development Corporation (BCDC) outlines that Nextlink will be given six acres of land to use in the city’s Southwest Industrial Park.

Nextlink, in return, will build a $500,000 regional facility to bring high-speed internet access to rural areas. City Manager James Fisher said the facility should bring at least ten new jobs, with potentially more after that as it ramps up.

Fisher said this should allow citizens another option for internet connectivity. He said better internet is one of the topics the city has heard often, as many consumers do not have a lot of options.

The company, based out of Hudson Oaks in the Fort Worth area, uses wireless technology to provide internet for rural areas. Last year, it received a $281 million award from the Federal Communication Commission’s $1.98 billion rural broadband program in Texas.

Fisher said the company has been looking at various regional site to expand into, and Brenham was one of the sites it was looking to locate. He said the company could possibly branch out from there into other rural communities.  He added he has heard “positive things” about their status as a community partner in the places they’ve been or are attempting to go.

Fisher said as the land is provided to Nextlink, the city will receive ad valorem taxes from the land going back onto the tax rolls. He noted the agreement would transfer the land to Nextlink from the BCDC after three years, if the provisions of the agreement are met.

Infrastructure is in place for the facility, though a time frame for construction has not been finalized. A closing date will be set to complete the real estate transaction.

Fisher said the other executive session item the council dealt with Thursday, regarding the purchase of property in downtown, failed to come together. He said the council couldn’t work out the details with the property owner, so negotiations were terminated.

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5 Comments

  1. While this is potentially good news, I would like to see some details first. Internet access is badly needed for rural areas. How does “NextLink” intend to do this? Towers? How many, where? Wireless is mentioned. Does that mean data caps, like the cell towers? In which case, it’s not really true Internet, since no streaming.

    LOTS of questions. I hope city council asked them!?!

  2. I just hope there will be no new towers or microwave emitting hardware that will be installed. When will the health and saftey of the citizens matter? Its been proven over and over this sorta equipment causes organ damage and skin cancer. The world’s top wifi/microwave expert has gone public with this data…https://youtu.be/z99_SzoXZdY

  3. This is really cool.Happy people in rural areas around Brenham will be able to get internet service. I was looking at the service plans that Nextlink provides not to impressed with the speeds and monthly cost of the service. I thought Brenham all ready has a rural wifi provider with Texas Broadband. Is this just to have competition in the area?

    Being in the internet line of work this could be done cheaper than whats in this news article. There could be an issue if they are using the unlicensed wireless bands because of another provider in the area could cause interference. Wish them all the best and cant wait to see how things turn out. Hopefully people will take the service and some of us folks in the outer areas can get good service.

    1. I dont have a cable provider because I’m on a fixed income and just can’t afford it. All I want is wifi for my cell phone so I can browse the internet and watch Netflix on my phone.Does Nextlink offer just wifi?

      1. Just upgrade your cellular data plan and use it instead of adding another bill..?

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