Texas Businesses Earned Nearly $195 Billion from Online Sales in 2013

AUSTIN, TX – Eighty percent of Texas businesses report utilizing broadband with $194.6 billion in online revenue earned over the course of 2013, according to recently released findings from Connected Texas in its 2014 business survey revealing the impact of broadband adoption in businesses across the state.

Connected Texas, the Texas division of Connected Nation, is a public-private partnership, funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the State of Texas, working with telecommunications providers, business and community leaders, information technology companies, researchers, public agencies, libraries and universities to enable economic growth and a better way of life through improved broadband Internet access, adoption and use.

“Broadband adoption and use among businesses in Texas is the catalyst to the $195 billion earned by Texas businesses last year, greatly impacting the economic growth and sustainability of communities throughout our state,” said Connected Texas Executive Director Don Shirley. “From back-up service to data storage, we are pleased to see the growth in acceptance and understanding of the benefits of broadband. We will continue our efforts to help those 20 percent of Texas businesses that do not utilize broadband in any capacity, whether it is to assist them with gaining access or providing results like these that demonstrate just what broadband can do.”

Additional findings include:

• 296,000 Internet-connected Texas businesses don’t have redundant or backup Internet service. This means that if anything were to happen to their Internet service, they would be unable to connect to the Internet.


• 78,000 Internet-connected businesses want more bandwidth; of those, two-fifths (40 percent) report that they can’t get faster service where they are located.


• More than one in five Internet-connected Texas businesses (23 percent) now rely on cloud computing services for their operations. The most popular uses of cloud computing are: data storage and back-up, file sharing, and website hosting.


• Nearly one in six businesses say it is important for new employees to be able to create or edit a mobile app; another one in six say it is important for new employees to know at least one programming language.


• More than four out of ten Texas businesses (45 percent) say they spend their own time and resources training new employees on the software that their business uses.


• Connected Texas surveyed 600 businesses as part of the State Broadband Initiative grant program, funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The business survey results have been independently peer reviewed, and this survey will be used by state and local leaders to help drive increased adoption and use of broadband.