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APPENDIX F. COMMUNITIES’ NETWORKS
In 2001-2002, the Cross-Border Institute for Regional Development (CBIRD) and
Texas Regional Action Committee (TRAC) conducted an inventory of
telecommunications providers and a needs assessment to detail current
telecommunications use in Cameron County and Matamoros, Mexico. 14 It was
determined Harlingen and Brownsville have local ISP providers that offer up-todate
telecommunications connectivity at competitive costs. High-speed wireless
access, optical fiber (OC-48, OC-192), T1 and DS3 access, VPNs, and WANS are
available in the Cameron County area and will continue to develop. But while
they work to provide state-of-the-art technology to their customers, these
providers experience a common frustration that they must educate industry
clients about the most basic benefits of using Internet technology; it is difficult to
serve a client base that does not perceive a need.
Providers’ View
Providers stressed the importance of a regional, long-range fiber infrastructure,
and pointed out that wireless connectivity might be an imminent stop-gap
measure and to provide services for rural areas. Local providers would like to
offer services across the border, but found significant obstacles to entering this
market. According to providers, long-range infrastructure development will
require advanced fiber connections and, in order for this development to be
possible, a significant amount of communication and coordination among
regional communities is required. Providers would like to see an increase in
communication and coordination among communities about technology issues.
Rather than building new networks, regional providers suggest using existing
infrastructure combined with new services and technologies such as virtualprivate
networking (VPN) over broadband ATM connections. New services are on
the horizon for the Lower Rio Grande Valley: fixed-wireless, upgraded cable
networks, and video-over-copper DSL will provide various interactive and
multimedia capabilities. These new services are expected to gain wide
acceptance and despite the current economic downturn, competition in
broadband is heating up among telephone companies, power-line providers,
wire-line, satellite and wireless companies provide significant competition.
User Views
While Cameron County users' level of dependence on the Internet varies,
organizations generally felt Internet access was very important. Most users
predicted gradual improvement and upgrading of their resources as needs
increase and costs decrease. Wireless connectivity is an emerging preference
for heavy Internet users. The most common obstacles to upgrading of
telecommunications resources are cost, availability, and the lack of perceived
benefits.
14 This effort was led by Dr. Corey Carbonara, Director, Baylor University’s Institute for Technology
Innovation Management; and a team of researchers from Texas State Technical College, Waco,
Texas.
Challenges: According
to providers, a general
lack of knowledge,
awareness, and trust
among users in the
community provide
more obstacles to
technological progress
than infrastructure and
availability.
xx.