LCRA details private LTE expansion, fiber work and federal grants to boost rural broadband and emergency alerts

At a June 17 meeting of the Planning and Public Policy Committee of the Lower Colorado River Authority’s board, LCRA Telecom described plans to expand a private LTE (PLTE) radio network across 102 counties, said work on fiber 'middle mile' connections is underway, and outlined two federal broadband grants that will fund near-term construction.

Steve, an LCRA telecom representative, told the committee LCRA operates roughly 2,800 miles of fiber and is moving its operational radio services from legacy 900 MHz narrowband to a private LTE broadband system after purchasing spectrum from a vendor identified in the transcript as Antix. "We are transitioning that over to our private LTE service," Steve said, adding that PLTE will enable video, larger data payloads and more resilient voice communications than older systems. "It's really going from sort of the old dial‑up system to real broadband," he said.

Why it matters: LCRA said the PLTE expansion supports both critical internal operations — hydromet gauges, SCADA telemetry and transmission work — and external public-safety and community uses, including interoperability for law enforcement, fire and EMS. LCRA confirmed the system already supports Hydromet data and early customers such as Cap Metro (transit) and several water utilities; about 56 PLTE sites are built and 52 are on air, the presentation said.

Grants and timeline: Steve summarized two grants tied to the rollout. He said LCRA received a Broadband Development Office (BDO) award that will fund towers, vaults and fiber to close service gaps; design and equipment orders have been completed and construction is scheduled to begin July 1. In a later presentation segment he said the BDO grant will require installation of roughly 85 vaults (32 complete so far), about 23 additional towers and related shelters. LCRA anticipates curing 500–550 easements to enable third‑party traffic on its fiber; about 58–60 easements are signed and roughly 120 are in active negotiation, he said.

Steve also described a county-level grant described in the transcript as a $14.7 million award administered to "Kub," under which LCRA expects to receive about $13.3 million as a subgrantee to build 10 private LTE sites, add fiber and support early-warning sirens. (Transcript figures for larger grants vary in places; see clarifying details below.)

Technical scale and deployment: LCRA said the PLTE plan ultimately covers 102 counties (about 128,000 square miles) and serves an estimated population of roughly 7 million people in that footprint. Phase one buildout is described as 215 sites total; LCRA is building the first 68 counties in the I‑35 corridor through 2029 and plans to begin work in the southern counties in 2030. The authority reported more than 40,000 radios now in service and roughly 200 fiber customers.

Operational notes and use cases: Presenters emphasized redundancy: geo‑redundant LTE cores, overlapping tower coverage, cellular carrier fallbacks and some satellite backups. LCRA illustrated common use cases — SCADA telemetry, remote generator/battery monitoring, smart meters and fleet telematics — that reduce the need for in‑person maintenance and speed incident response. Steve noted Cap Metro has received roughly 700 radios for testing in buses and that early Hydromet connections are live on PLTE.

Questions and concerns: Committee members asked about permitting, land‑owner easements and equipment lead times; Steve identified permitting and land leases as the primary constraints and said easement‑curing funds are included in grant work. On the question of whether LCRA could use eminent domain for buildout, staff said that authority exists and that the board could consider a future item as a backstop. Members also asked whether sirens are triggered automatically; Steve said initial activations must be initiated by local emergency management or the sheriff and that automatic gauge‑triggered activation is planned for a later phase once more gauges are deployed.

Vote and next steps: Earlier in the meeting the committee approved minutes for May meetings by voice vote. For the telecom program, LCRA said construction tied to the BDO grant will begin July 1 with vault installation, tower builds and fiber work continuing through the rest of the calendar year; further county‑level rollouts will follow the phased plan.

Clarifying details and inconsistencies: The transcript includes differing grant figures in separate remarks (at one point the presenter says $29.8 million and $14 million; later he references $28.6 million and $14.7 million with LCRA receiving $13.3 million as a subaward). The committee presentation did not provide a full, single reconciled accounting of total grant dollars; those differences are recorded in the clarifying details section of the meeting record and should be verified against award documents.

What happens next: LCRA staff said equipment orders are placed, design is complete for the BDO-funded work, and construction activity will begin July 1. The board will be asked to consider any needed eminent‑domain items in the next meeting cycle; staff will continue easement negotiations and site permitting as part of the rollout schedule.

(Committee meeting audio ended with brief comments of appreciation for staff and a motion to adjourn; no public comments were recorded.)