Wired or wireless, broadband service to rural communities in the U.S. is going to require more than what the private sector will, or can, provide.Wired or wireless, broadband service to rural communities in the U.S. is going to require more than what the private sector will or can provide.
Several recent reports, including this one in the Albany Times Union, have investigated the hurdles to broadband deployment in rural communities. Rural communities are having limited success in securing broadband service, in spite of a growing number of initiatives aimed at providing incentives to service providers to extend access in rural areas.
The Times-Union reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Broadband Access loan program is beginning to return some success in New York state. But Ed Pawling, co-founder of the New York nonprofit group, Communities Connecting, is quoted in the Times-Union report, saying it will take serious money to do the job, more money than the private sector can provide. “The money is not there,” he said, “because the major companies cannot afford to do this. We need state and federal support to do it.”
BroadbandReports.com has a related item today on the dismal state of connectivity in Missouri where rural residents are lucky to have dial-up service. AT&T has been busy across the state building out DSL but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that local providers have been more aggressive that the big carriers in expanding service. A number of Missouri officials believe that regional initiatives could be effective.
Agreed it will take a federal governmental touch of green to assist businesses, much like the WPA post Depression public works infusion. Having worked from the public and private sectors to expand our local DSL/cable footprints wirelessly, I see universally common issues. Viable biz plan, buildout costs, QOS in difficult topographical environments and low customer density. Those issues need to be resolved by more grant, not loan money from the feds. States and S/M locals are too stretched to do this in my experience.
People should consider how British Columbia addressed this problem. By aggregating gov’t procurement, they were enabled to deliver broadband POPs to 151 remote, rural and First Nation communities. They also provided grants for last mile.