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Editor’s Note: Our original story below quoted Jose Peña, Pharr’s IT director, as saying the city was approaching 10,000 subscribers for its high-speed broadband service. City staff have contacted the Rio Grande Guardian to say the number has now topped 10,000.

Original story:

PHARR, Texas – Residents in south Pharr have signed up for the city’s blazing fast fiber optic broadband service in greater percentages than those living in the central or north areas.

Perhaps this is because the service was rolled out there first. Perhaps it is because more people in south Pharr did not have access to the Internet before.

Of the 7,056 homes that could receive the service in south Pharr, 3,321 have so far done so. That is a take up rate of 47 percent.

In central Pharr, 9,826 homes could receive the service and 3,914 have signed up for it. That is a take up rate of 40 percent.

And in north Pharr, 6,688 homes could receive the service and 2,584 have signed up for it. That is a take up rate of 39 percent.

Jose Peña, IT director for Pharr, provided the numbers and percentages during a presentation at a recent Rio Grande Valley Partnership “Commercialization and Investment Tour” event. It was hosted by Pharr Economic Development Corporation and held at the Pharr One Center.

“Thirty-three out of 114 zones have over 50% (of residents) subscribing to our services. So, we’ve been very fortunate. Our adoption rates have gone up very well,” Peña said.

He said the residential plans offered by TeamPharr.Net are very affordable. The Blue Plan costs $25 a month for 500 Mbps both download and upload. The Gold Plan cost $50 per month for 1 Gig both download and upload. The Platinum Plan costs $80 per month for 2 Gig both download and upload.

“We should hit 10,000 subscribers this week,” Peña said. “Every month we continue to surpass our previous records.”

Peña started his presentation by pointing out why Pharr invested in its own fiber optic broadband network.

“The City of Pharr created the network due a 2019 report from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance that listed Pharr as the No. 1 worst connected city in the country. Harlingen number three, and the city of Brownsville was No. 5,” Peña said.

“So that report really showed that the region had been underserved and unserved by so many private ISPs (internet service providers). We wanted to do something about it. You all probably know or have heard about our mayor (Ambrosio Hernandez) who’s very proactive and wants to get things done.”

Peña said the City of Pharr worked with Pharr EDC to fund the new network. He said it was brought to fruition much sooner than if the city had waited for federal funds. And he pointed out that Pharr EDC has won an award from the Texas Economic Development Corporation for the initiative.

“This is a fully 100% underground fiber optic network. Initially we were looking at about 400 miles of fiber. We ended up with about close to 600 miles of fiber.”

Peña said the success of the TeamPharr.Net service is based not so much on the fact that residents did not have access to service from private ISPs but that the cost was prohibitive.

“The reason we had this digital divide was because two thirds of the city had access to our incumbent ISP. One third of the city did not. And for those who actually had access, the issue was not really that they couldn’t get it, it just wasn’t affordable.”

During his presentation, Peña showed a slide that listed the City of Pharr’s Broadband Strategic Plans and Goals. They are:

•            Establish partnerships with school districts, universities, and colleges within Pharr

•            Discuss and explore broadband service expansion opportunities with neighboring cities

•            Train and develop a skilled and resilient workforce

•            Support collaborative efforts with local school districts, universities, and the TWC to protect career development

•            Hold community training and outreach sessions for TeamPharr.Net and Cyber security

•            Plan and implement Smart City projects

Helping the business community

Now that the high-speed internet service is available to residents, the City of Pharr will now target businesses, Peña said.

“We’re now going to transition into the commercial sector. We actually do have a couple restaurants and an attorney’s office running already with our services because we needed to pilot these services to them to make sure that we have no issues,” Peña said.

Businesses will be able to have a 10-gig service, or greater if they need it. “If anybody has any requirements to go over 10-gig we can provide up to 25, 50 or 100 gig requirements,” Peña said.

Interviewed by the Rio Grande Guardian after his presentation, Peña said: “We are going to start looking at targeting our commercial community, specifically those that are closer to our fiber optic network that is already built underground. We do understand we’re not in front of every business yet, but that’s where we continue to look for funding opportunities that hopefully will soon become available to us. But we are going to start targeting our commercial community that is readily accessible to our fiber optic network.”

He said he and his team will also be rolling out a training platform to improve digital literacy, both for students and adults.

“We’re very excited to launch, hopefully very soon, our digital literacy and equity training program that we were able to start up due to a grant that we received. Now that all our staff and our platforms have been set up, we’ll be soon announcing that new initiative.”

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of Jose Peña’s presentation at the Rio Grande Valley Partnership’s “Commercialization and Investment Tour” event:

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