Business Connections by Adams

S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 3 BUSINESS connections R ural areas of the U.S. have always had less Internet access than urban areas. About 19 million Americans still don’t have access to broadband Internet, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines as offering a minimum of 25 Mbps download speeds and 3 Mbps upload speeds. Those who do have broadband access often find it’s too expensive, unreliable, or has prohibitive data caps that make it unusable for modern needs. Fiber optics are the “gold standard” for broadband service, since this technology offers nearly unlimited expansion and has fewer points of failure than copper wire and cable networks. The cost of installing fiber optics, however, is substantially higher than traditional DSL (digital line service) and cable. That’s because most of those services use the existing copper telephone or coaxial cable lines installed decades ago. One reason many rural areas lack fiber is that it’s not financially viable for big Internet service providers to expand into these communities. They’re not densely populated and running fiber-optic cable is expensive. In urban communities, a mile-long cable might pass dozens, or even hundreds, of homes and businesses. Rural Internet requires longer wires with fewer potential customers from whom to recoup the costs. However, broadband grants, cost-of-money loans, and similar government programs have created and sustained broadband development in rural areas across the country. For example, $425 million was allocated in 2018 for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Services’ broadband grant-loan pilot program. The new grant-loan program allows companies, municipalities, Native American tribes, and other organizations to apply for funding to build or improve broadband technology in rural and tribal areas or acquire the facilities and equipment for it. Also in 2018, the FCC auctioned off almost $1.5 billion in subsidies to get broadband providers to serve an additional 700,000 American homes over the next 10 years. In addition, the FCC approved an order that will provide additional universal service support to promote the deployment of more robust broadband-capable networks in the parts of rural America served by smaller operators like those in NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association’s membership. Broadband Access by the Numbers To more fully understand the extent of broadband challenges faced by rural residents, it helps to look at the numbers: 20 Percent of the American population, or 60 million people, live in rural areas. (United States Census) 15 Million Americans in rural areas only have access to Internet speeds of less than 10 Mbps. (FCC) 41 Percent of tribal residents lack broadband Internet. (Press release from Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand) 25 Mbps download speed is the minimum required for a community to be considered served by broadband. (FCC) 24 Percent of rural adults say access to high- speed Internet is a major problem. (Pew Research Center) Programs Help Bring Fiber to More Rural Areas