Lower Colorado River Authority Expands Communications with Anterix Private Network

Anterix and the Lower Colorado River Authority announced that the parties have entered into an agreement under which LCRA will purchase 900 MHz broadband licenses from Anterix necessary to deploy a wireless broadband system.

The agreement covers 68 counties and more than 30 cities in LCRA’s wholesale electric, transmission and water service areas.

LCRA currently owns and operates a trunked 900 MHz narrowband radio system, which it uses to meet its communication needs throughout its service territory and shares with a wide range of customers.

The new licenses will enable LCRA to move from narrowband to next generation broadband and provide mission-critical data and voice services within LCRA and to more than 100 external customers such as electric cooperatives, schools and transit authorities across more than 73,000 square miles.

Created by the Texas legislature in 1934, LCRA manages the lower 600 miles of the Colorado River, which provides water to more than 1.4 million people, and is one of the largest public power providers in Texas, supplying power to more than 30 retail electric cooperatives and municipalities. It also owns and operates more than 5,400 miles of transmission lines and owns or operates more than 40 parks.

The agreement marks the first private wireless broadband network in Texas built for critical infrastructure, schools and public transit.