Lower Colorado River Authority Expands it's Communication Capabilities with a New 900MHZ Private Wireless Network from Anterix

Anterix and the Lower Colorado River Authority today 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 is the first non-investor owned utility to pursue 900 MHz private long-term evolution, or LTE. 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. 

“This will help us take our wireless communications system to the next level,” said Ken Price, LCRA’s chief operating officer. “The network will provide a host of upgrades that will benefit LCRA and our customers by significantly improving data transmission, overall communication capabilities and resilience.” 

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

“LCRA is an exciting and unique customer for Anterix,” said Rob Schwartz, Anterix’s president & chief executive officer. “Not only does this agreement clear another ‘complex system,’ but it also adds a new type of customer to our nationwide network of utility networks, as LCRA is a public power generation and transmission utility that is also a water management utility. This agreement highlights the benefits of private LTE beyond the investor-owned electric utility space that has thus far been the major focus of Anterix’s efforts. We look forward to working with LCRA and other Texas utilities to support energy resilience and reliability in the ERCOT region.”