For Rural Communities, Broadband Expansion Is No Single Thing

Without reliable, affordable internet, rural communities have limited economic opportunities and lack access to education, healthcare, and many other services. Broadband expansion is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, said Adrianne Furniss, director of the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. Federal money is vital for rural broadband because without the subsidy, there is little to no incentive for internet companies to lay fiber optic cables in rural areas. It would never be financially feasible for them to bring high-speed internet to some of these communities. But even once the infrastructure exists, not all rural residents will have access to the internet. “Everybody says the problem in rural areas is access and no infrastructure and the problem in urban areas is affordability,” said Furniss, “The answer is affordability is as much of a problem in rural areas as it is in urban areas. And in fact, people are paying more for worse service in rural areas.” The Benton Institute is helping communities create plans for broadband expansion, and part of that is finding alternative service providers that are able to provide competition for the larger players. “When Frontier is the only game in town, we look next door and see whether there’s a co-op provider that might edge out into your area.,” said Furniss. “One of the reasons I’m in love with electric co-ops and telephone co-ops is that they, the community owns the network,” said Furniss. “They don’t care if the return on investment takes 10-plus years. They’re ok with that. The big guys want their return in three years.”