|
Providing telephone service in rural Texas
has never been easy. Characterized by vast distances, low population
densities and varied geography, rural Texas presents many challenges to
the TSTCI companies that seek to connect rural communities. Chief among
these challenges is the high cost of providing services to relatively
few customers across very wide areas.
The population of Texas is widely dispersed. While the state's six
largest counties account for almost half of the state's population,
over one-third of all Texans live within counties that have a
population density of less than 10 persons per square mile. In
addition, nine Texas counties, with a combined land area of over 18,000
square miles, have population densities of less than one person per
square mile.
Geographic indicators are important where
wireless technology is growing. Today's telecommunications network is
primarily based on wireline technology, making it very costly to
establish a network to serve vast rural areas with relatively few
potential customers. In addition, some technologies are very sensitive
to distance, making them more expensive to provide in the rural areas
of Texas.
Today, more than 170,000 consumers get
their telephone service from TSTCI member systems. The overall
density of most of the TSTCI companies' service areas range from a low
of approximately .8 customers per mile of telephone line up to only 6
customers per mile of telephone line.
|
