Fort Bend County Advances Rural Broadband Expansion

Fort Bend County is moving forward with an $18.9 million broadband expansion project aimed at bringing high-speed Internet service to four rural communities.

The project centers on Kendleton, Needville, Thompsons and Simonton, where county officials have said broadband gaps have limited access to education, health care, public safety resources and small-business opportunities. Fort Bend County’s broadband initiative page describes the effort as a public-private partnership designed to expand infrastructure in underserved areas and improve connectivity for residents and businesses.

The financial structure is substantial. Under an agreement approved by Commissioners Court in October 2024, Fort Bend County committed $2.5 million in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, while Comcast committed about $16.4 million, bringing the total estimated project cost to about $18.9 million. The agreement says the network must provide service capable of at least 100 megabits per second download and 20 megabits per second upload, with the ability to scale to 100/100 Mbps.

County officials recently provided an update on the initiative's progress. In a March 31 release, Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said Comcast crews had already been laying fiber outside Thompsons for several weeks. The same release said the broader project is expected to bring Xfinity residential and Comcast Business service to Kendleton, Needville and Simonton by the end of 2026.

The county’s earlier public statements show the Comcast project sits within a larger broadband push. In May 2024, Fort Bend officials said commissioners had allocated more than $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for broadband access and were pursuing state and federal opportunities to expand service in unserved and underserved areas identified through a 2021 study.