Technology Case Studies
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Bringing Broadband to Rural America
| Government Working to Close the Digital Divide | |
| posted 04-28-2009 |
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 Roxboro, N.C., wasn’t always a town struggling to survive. “We used to be able to attract industries because of our community college, plenty of water, good churches, good schools, and good people. But we can’t attract them now,” laments Thomas Brown, mayor of Roxboro, the city and county seat of Person County. “It seems like, these days, all industries want are tremendous incentives.” One of those incentives is broadband connectivity, says Brown, noting that Roxboro—population 8,696—“has lost almost all of its industries.” Nearly 40 percent of Person County’s population doesn’t have high-speed Internet access despite its close proximity to North Carolina’s Research Triangle region, home to numerous high-tech companies and enterprises. Roxboro isn’t alone in its desperate need for broadband connectivity. According to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, broadband adoption among Americans who live in households with incomes under $200,000 annually actually fell to 25 percent in early 2008 compared to 28 percent a year earlier. What’s more, nearly one-third of broadband users now pay more to get faster connections. The digital divide Such statistics are in sharp contrast to what’s happening in wealthier and more populous areas of America. According to New Hampshire’s Leichtman Research Group, in the past year, the top broadband providers added nearly 7.8 million net new subscribers, bringing the combined total number of broadband subscribers to more than 64 million at the end of the first quarter of 2008. A report entitled “Home Broadband Adoption 2008” from Pew reveals that some 55 percent of all adult Americans now have a high-speed Internet connection at home—and the percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 47 percent in early 2007. Broadband: The great equalizer Which begs the question: If broadband access is catching on in mainstream America, why are so many rural communities getting left behind? In fact, 19,000 communities across the nation currently don’t enjoy broadband connectivity. It’s a digital divide separating rural and urban America that illustrates more than simply techno-inequality. Broadband connectivity spurs economic growth, supports continuing education, delivers job training, provides job search opportunities, and grants the U.S. a competitive advantage in today’s global economy. The bottom line: Rural America simply can’t afford to live without broadband access. “Broadband begins to equalize the technology divide and gives people living in rural areas greater choices,” says Dr. Robert Atkinson, president of The Information and Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think tank based in Washington, D.C. “There’s a significant difference in job growth in communities with high-speed broadband and in communities without it. Plus, we’re talking about keeping rural communities viable from an economic perspective, and that’s good for the country as a whole.” A global race for speed As it is, America is playing digital catch-up with some of today’s industrialized nations. According to the ITIF, from a ranking of fourth among the 30 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in broadband penetration in 2001, the U.S. had fallen to 15th by 2007. The country also ranks 15th among OECD countries in broadband speed, averaging 4.9 megabits per second, and 11th in terms of the average cost of broadband per Mbps. Compare that to countries like South Korea, where 85 percent of the population has a fixed-line broadband connection, and it becomes clear just how important it is to deploy broadband across rural America. While it would be easy to point fingers, there are a number of factors contributing to America’s failure to bring broadband to every household. For starters, constructing the necessary networks and infrastructure needed to support broadband in rural areas is a time-consuming and costly endeavor without any guarantee of a return on investment. In fact, a recent Pew survey revealed that 57 percent of today’s dial-up and non-Internet users say they don’t subscribe to broadband because they are just not interested—not because it’s not available where they live. As a result, it’s not always “economically justifiable” for a telecommunications company to reach out to rural customers, according to Bruce Leichtman, president of the Leichtman Research Group. The role of government Another factor contributing to the status quo is the outlook of the former Bush administration, according to Charles Benton, chairman and CEO of The Benton Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that’s committed to public telecommunications and consumer access. “The Bush administration was simply out to lunch on this one,” he says. “They really weren’t interested in any kind of national broadband strategy.” Fortunately, steps are being taken to bridge America’s digital divide. The good news is, these days, telecommunications companies aren’t facing huge technological hurdles to deploy broadband in remote regions. “There really aren’t a lot of technical challenges,” says Atkinson. “In most cases, it’s a question of extending your cable boxes or your fiber deeper into areas.” And then there’s the President’s digital agenda. Congress has earmarked more than $6 billion to deliver broadband to underserved areas as part of its nearly $800 billion economic stimulus plan. Measures include expanding broadband access, expediting connection speeds, and “mandating that the Federal Communications Commission must develop a broadband strategy plan,” according to Benton. But most importantly, by making broadband access one of his administration’s top priorities, President Obama hopes to provide the broadband industry with the long-awaited financial incentive needed to penetrate rural areas. “We certainly cannot expect carriers to go to places where they can’t make money, which is why the stimulus plan is such an important step,” says Atkinson. “Basically it says, ‘We’re going to subsidize 80 percent of the costs of your capital expenditures,’ and that’s going to get broadband in a lot more places that might otherwise never have received it through market forces alone.” Steps towards connectivity But a stimulus plan isn’t a cure-all, warns Benton. “Working out what is financially viable as a business and how to fund the building of infrastructure—these are complicated issues,” he says. “That’s why there ought to be much more public-private cooperation in meeting these goals, with the ultimate goal being everyone is connected to the network.” Private-public partnerships are a constructive first step towards widespread broadband access, but Leichtman says such arrangements aren’t getting to the heart of the matter. He says, “The digital divide is not about the Internet or broadband. It starts with computers, and this is the part that’s completely misunderstood.” According to Leichtman, 39 percent of U.S. households with an annual income of less than $30,000 do not own a computer, largely for financial reasons. As a result, he says, “If we want to solve a problem with the digital divide, we have to look at computer ownership, not at broadband.” Congressional support, financial incentives, easy-to-deploy technology, computer ownership—they’re all variables helping to bridge today’s digital divide. But regardless of which approach is taken to encourage universal broadband access across the nation, one thing is certain: Rural America is counting on broadband connectivity for its economic sustainability. ______________________________ Closing the broadband gap in rural and underserved America Benefits of broadband in rural areas ______________________________  COMMENTSWhat’s it going to take to bridge the digital divide for rural America? Leave your response in the comments below. |
