FCC computes subsidies needed to bring broadband to rural
Nate Anderson has a good summary on a new FCC report on the subsidies needed to bring broadband to underserved and unserved areas. The FCC estimates that bringing a combination of 4 Mbps DSL (using 12,000 foot loop lengths) and 4G wireless to rural America would cost roughly 23.5 billion dollars in subsidies. Going directly to fiber for these areas would cost $60 billion in subsidies, but how would the rest of the country feel about paying this bill when no one is offering to subsidize their fiber infrastructure or any infrastructure for that matter much less the higher cost of things like rent.
Even the cheaper option is a lot of money considering the trouble it took to approve a “mere” $7.2 billion for the broadband stimulus package in 2009. It might not be too much money considering how much money is spent and wasted on USF High Cost every year which would add up to $25 billion in just a few years. The problem is that the USF High Cost money has already been committed and it is always difficult to cut funding for something no matter how unjustifiable it is.
Just like the gulf oil spill, we cant accept the status quo, WHEN will the politicians start representing the people and not the CORP $
DMM, do you have a point to make?
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