GONZALES — Gonzales City Council approved to have the city manager sign a two-year extension to the private/public partnership agreement with T-Mobile for the Hotspot Program on June 6, a contract that was scheduled to end later that month.
In late 2019, the city launched the Internet for All initiative, a private/public partnership agreement with T-Mobile to provide enough wireless hotspots to equip every student and family that needed a high-speed wireless device at home.
The city received 2,000 wireless hotspots and began distributing the devices to Gonzales residents in early 2020. Just under 1,800 devices were distributed.
Through this unique partnership with T-Mobile, Gonzales was the first city on the Central Coast to provide basic level broadband service to all households.
“The Hotspot Program has been a huge success and extending the agreement with T-Mobile for two more years is critical,” said Rene Mendez, Gonzales city manager. “This innovative solution to providing our families and students connectivity allowed us to address the digital divide in a way that had not been done before. Two more years will allow us time to work with the recently formed South Salinas Valley Broadband JPA to implement a Community Broadband Network that will provide a permanent solution for affordable internet access for our residents.”
The City of Gonzales adopted a Broadband Infrastructure Strategy in 2017 and its core goal was to provide basic and reliable internet service to every household in Gonzales.
The partnership with T-Mobile helped the city achieve this goal, and forming the South Salinas Valley Broadband Authority is an important next step to permanently end the digital divide in Gonzales and the rest of South Monterey County.
