April 21, 2023 - ETEX, a telecommunications company, welcomed Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors; City of Center representatives including the council, administration and Economic Development Corporation (EDC); community businesses; and residents to a ribbon cutting event on Friday, April 21, 2023 at their location on 301 Nacogdoches Street in Center.
The location is meant to house the new broadband technology the company is bringing to Center with plans to have the new system successfully running in early 2024. Chad Nehring, City of Center Manager, welcomed everyone to the rollout of a brand new product and availability of services for broadband and internet to citizens of the city.
“We’re very honored to be part of this partnership, we hope to demonstrate to be a model partnership to the state and to the federal government, because this is where the support is needed,” said Charlie Cano, General Manager/CEO of ETEX Telephone.
He stated he was pleased with the EDC and their willingness to move forward with the partnership with ETEX. Cano said ETEX would showcase a good provider has been chosen and they’re here to stay.
Mayor David Chadwick commended the Economic Development Corporation for their foresight in bringing a different level of communication to the community in Center. “We think this is a major step for development of our community, the communications that we need to draw and attract businesses to our community,” said Chadwick. “So we solute them for their wisdom and nerve to be able to commit to this amount of money to develop a program here.”
John Snider, EDC President, reflected on the journey that has brought the community to this point.
“Today we’re celebrating, we’re moving from the ‘planning/development’ and ‘how do we fund this stage’ over into now the ‘getting it done phase,’” said Snider.
Snider remarked on reaching out to other entities in the county to see if a larger project could be accomplished; however, for various reasons including timing, the larger project wasn’t feasible at that time.
“At the completion of the first phase, we should have over 2/3 of the City of Center connected to this project,” said Snider. “Phase two is already being discussed, and plans are already in place.”
Cano said he’s proud of the commitment ETEX has with rural communities and he highlighted his employees are from East Texas and they are dedicated to serving their friends and neighbors in East Texas.
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Lonnie Hunt, Deep East Texas Council of Governments Executive Director, and Jerri Jones, District Director for State Rep. Travis Clardy, were each on hand to welcome ETEX Communications to Center.
ETEX was established in 1952 by a group of farmers in Upshur County and now serves parts of 13 counties providing connectivity to thousands of East Texans, hundreds of cell towers, school districts and countless counties and cities.
