Broadband Paper Issued in Rural Telecom Educational Series

April 15, 2010

RTFC Capital Connections | Vol. 22, No. 4

A new white paper in the Rural Telecom Educational Series, which is sponsored by RTFC, was released last month by NTCA’s Foundation for Rural Service (FRS).

“Providing World-Class Broadband: The Future of Wireless and Wireline Broadband Technologies” analyzes the most common methods for deploying broadband along with their advantages and disadvantages. It was released in late March during NTCA’s Legislative and Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

“Most consumers will require both a fixed and mobile broadband connection for the unique benefits each can provide,” the paper says. “To meet the ultra-high-speed broadband needs of their customers, landline carriers must continue to deploy fiber closer to their customers—with the ultimate goal of eliminating the copper cables from their network entirely in favor of fiber. To meet the mobile broadband needs of their customers, the wireless carriers must continue to upgrade their networks to 4G technologies. The investment on the part of the wireless and wireline carriers to achieve this will be large, but the cost of failing will be even larger.”

The paper also notes that broadband infrastructure in rural areas can cost up to 10 times more than that for an urban customer. “Since the replacement costs are so high in rural areas, it becomes more crucial that the infrastructure deployed be easily upgraded to meet the customer’s rapidly increasing broadband needs of the future.”

FRS launched the educational series of white papers in 2005 as part of an effort to promote rural telecom and educate legislators and regulators in Washington, D.C., and at the state and local level about important telco issues.

RTFC will send copies of the broadband white paper to members later this month. For more information on the educational series, visit www.frs.org.

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