Underground Construction - February 2018 - 24

Rural Broadband
tion plans - both to help pay for
investments already made and
because of the uncertainty that
the budget control will just keep
getting worse and worse."
Respondents to the NTCA survey were expressing concern prior to the most recent USF budget
adjustment. Summarizing information contained in the survey, an NTCA press release said
nearly 25 percent of respondents
were able to estimate impacts
of the recently increased budget
control on their investments and
operations.
"Nearly two-thirds of responding NTCA members indicate
that they intend to scale back
network investments over the
next 12 months in the face of
a budget control that has increased several times and will
now reduce their USF support by
$536,000, on average, over the
next year. This reduction in USF
support causes a larger effect on
broadband investment too.
"While many continue to
evaluate specific impacts of the
recently increased 12.3-percent
budget control factor, those respondents that provided financial impact estimates indicated
they would reduce their broadband investments over the next
12 months by $943,000, on average, due to the budget control.
These estimates don't encompass
the continued adverse effects
that are expected on network
investment in subsequent years,
until the USF support mechanisms are sufficiently funded.
"The total estimated investment impact for respondents
is over $44 million in delayed
or cancelled broadband investments over the next 12
months. Extrapolated across
NTCA members subject to
the budget control, this could
equate to as much as $300
million in delayed or cancelled
broadband investments.
24

FEBRUARY 2018 | UConOnline.com

More Than Fast Internet
High-speed internet service to rural areas means much more to
customers than fast connections and better television
reception.
Rural broadband provides critically important broadband
service to community anchor institutions. These small providers
serve public service entities (such as police and fire), primary and
secondary schools, public libraries, hospitals and medical clinics,
and numerous other important anchor institutions. This makes
significant contributions to the safety, health and overall well-being of their customers, helping facilitate the overall viability of
rural America.
For example, broadband access makes possible telemedicine,
enabling "face-to-face" consultations via the internet, and the exchange of medical records and information; connecting nursing
homes to medical providers; and allowing elderly people to stay
at home and have access to medical care.
Educational benefits include access to teaching programs
for classrooms, and to information for students' homework and
research.
Internet access helps agricultural businesses be more efficient,
and assists economic development in rural areas. With worldwide
access to business partners and customers, small-town businesses can compete on a national and global level.
High-speed internet is essential to attract businesses to relocate to small, rural
Towns, where labor and living costs are lower than metropolitan areas, and rural-based companies can compete for business
with larger, city-based companies.
Many rural broadband customers say their FTTH is comparable, even superior, to cable and internet services in big cities,
and they generally have a positive attitude toward
local providers.
Rural broadband providers are "different," not part of a huge
corporation controlling local services from distant cities. Rural
telephone companies and cooperatives are locally owned and
operated, and a part of the community. They are economic partners with the community, and their employees are friends and
neighbors who patronize local businesses. These factors foster a
positive relationship among providers and their customers.
"Respondents estimate that
the delayed and declined investments will result in 34 percent
fewer of their customers receiving broadband at speeds of 10 to
25 Mbps than would otherwise
have been the case had the net-

work builds proceeded.
"Respondents that could provide buildout impact estimates
indicated that approximately
42,000 customer locations (or
850 customer locations per company, on average) would remain

locked in at slower speeds due to
the budget control.
"Extrapolated across NTCA
members subject to the budget
control could equate to as many
as 275,000 adversely affected rural customer locations.
"Even in the wake of USF
reforms intended to achieve
reasonably comparable standalone broadband service rates
for rural and urban consumers,
the average respondent that is
not currently offering standalone
broadband estimates it would
need to charge a customer $126
per month for such service due
to the budget control - a rate
that is more than twice the urban average."
Positive info
Despite reductions in federal
support and uncertainty about
the future, the annual Broadband/Internet Availability survey
contains positive information.
Forty-one percent of respondents' broadband customers are
served by FTTH, 36 percent via
copper loops, 12 percent cable
modem, 9 percent fiber-to-the
node (FTTN), 1 percent licensed
and unlicensed fixed wireless,
and 0.2 percent by satellite.
Fifty-two percent of survey
respondents currently deploying
fiber, serve at least 50 percent
of their customers with FTTH,
while 24 percent serve 20 percent or less of their customers
with fiber technology.
According to the NTCA survey
report, "Eighty-two percent of
survey respondents indicated
they had a long-term fiber deployment strategy. Thirty-nine
percent of those respondents
with a fiber deployment strategy
plan to offer fiber-to-the node
to more than 75 percent of their
customers by year-end 2019,
while 66 percent plan to offer
fiber to the home to at least 50
percent of their customers over
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