In fact, four to six neighborhoods will join Pharr’s municipal fiber network every couple of weeks between now and the end of December, according to Jose Peña, the city’s IT director.
The idea for the network came about in 2017 after the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that the Rio Grande Valley was one of the least-connected regions in the country.
A year after the report was published, the city invested $90,000 into a pilot project to connect 50 families to fiber in South Pharr.
However, the project stalled, resulting in the city relaunching the project as “TeamPharr.Net.”
Now, the city is working with contractors like Brownstone Consultants, CobbFendley and Associates, Graybar, Calix and others to install 2.1 million feet of fiber-optic cable to reach 24,000 residents and businesses.
“Working with our partners has been tremendous because this is an operation the city does not operate,” Peña said. “It has been a big learning experience, and we needed help from everybody.”
In this case, Peña explained, Brownstone Consultants oversees project management; Cobb, Fendley and Associates handles engineering; Graybar supplies electrical, communications and data networking products; and Calix serves as the project’s home equipment provider.
With that said, Peña recommends the following for those interested in working on similar projects:
- Find a reliable project management company
- Be open to collaboration
- Find a good construction company
- Focus on product delivery
- Be prepared for delays
- Have patience when delays or issues happen
“We’ve had some delays with construction plan sets and trying to keep our crews busy,” Peña said. “What we’ve done is work with our construction company by expanding staffing to help expedite a lot of this work on the back end.”
However, despite these delays, Peña added, “I’m excited for the opening of quite a few more neighborhoods. Hopefully, we’ll have the entire South Pharr ready to install services by the end of December.”
