Rural Broadband Rollout

1
Rural Broadband Rollout

• Dave Pomeroy
• Kailash Nathan
• Ndubuisi Nduaguba

2
Outline

• Assessment
• Broadband Availability
• Problem - Described
• Implementation
• Proposed Solution
• Available Services

3
Forces hindering Broadband Rollout
Lack of Investment interest
laws Regulations
Demand
Forces against Broadband Rollout
Proximity of Infrastructure
4
Forces Against Rollout - continued

• Laws and Regulations
• - bureaucracies
• Investment
• - private sectors reluctance
• Proximity of Infrastructure
• - cost concerns, and technical limitations
• Demand
• - some communities not willing to pay the price
  for covenience

5
Rural Broadband Availability

• Broadband in rural areas is not very common
• 8 have broadband access in rural areas
• lt 5 of cities of lt 10k people have the
  infrastructure for cable / DSL
• lt 1 of towns lt 1k people have cable

6
U.S. Census Data Year 2000
7
Rural Broadband Availability

• Why hasnt it been implemented yet?
• Cable companies wont to service lt 10 homes / sq
  mile
• DSL CO in a 3 mile radius to serve
• Many COs will be needed to serve customers

8
The problem

• Implementing Rural Broadband
• Costs
• Equipment
• Travel
• Installation
• Support
• User/area ratio

9
Solving the problem

• Implementation of rural rollout
• Telecoms or Municipalities?
• What will it take for telecom companies to
  complete the rollout?
• Subsidizing
• Tax incentives

10
Implementation

• Telecoms
• Advantages
• Solid Infrastructure capable of growth
• Low cost to consumer
• High Quality of Service (free market)
• Disadvantages
• Will only rollout to profitable areas

11
Implementation

• Municipalities
• Advantages
• Locally owned and operated
• Broadband Implementation to suit region
• Disadvantages
• Funding
• Quality of Service

12
Encouraging Municipal Rollout

• Legal Issues
• Telecom companies claim unfair competition
• Laws bar municipalities from entering telecom
  market in many states
• Funding
• Who pays?
• Rural Consumers
• Government Subsidies
• Is cost / customer ratio unreasonable?

13
Implementing Municipal Rollout

• Technical Expertise (Qualified Labor)
• Installation of infrastructure
• Home installations
• Service and Support
• Availability of Technical Experts
• Will technicians be regionally employed?

14
Implementing Municipal Rollout

• Which broadband implementation?
• Cable
• DSL
• Satellite
• Wireless
• Must weigh pros and cons for each area

15
Services Rural Cable

• Advantages
• High bandwidth
• Transmit Video, Voice and Data
• Ability to serve large customer base
• Reaches anywhere cable can be run
• Disadvantages
• High cost to upgrade infrastructure

16
Services Rural DSL

• Advantages
• High bandwidth
• Transmit Voice and Data
• Private high speed connection
• Disadvantages
• High cost for telecoms
• Central Office has to be within 3 miles
• As many Central Offices as Houses

17
Services Rural Satellite

• Advantages
• Medium to High Bandwidth
• Transmit Video, Voice and Data
• Ability to serve large customer base
• Disadvantages
• Low upstream bandwidth (56k modem)
• Weather Dependent (Not reliable)

18
Services Municipal Wireless

• Advantages
• High bandwidth
• Service the regional customer base
• Simple customer start-up
• Wireless is very appealing
• Disadvantages
• Short Range
• With current technology, many access points are
  needed.

19
Implementing Municipal Wireless

• Examples
• Cerritos, CA
• San Fransico, CA
• Increased range on access points may provide a
  viable solution to problem

20
Range vs. Number of A.P.s
21
What are some states doing now?

• Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure
  Agency (UTOPIA)
• Government owned, maintained
• Provides Fiber to the last mile
• Telecoms lease infrastructure and charge
  customers
• Releases the overhead of the infrastructure

22
Telecoms vs. Municipalities

• Telecom companies are private and are only
  concerned with profit
• UTOPIA-like solutions are very promising using
  current technology
• Cerritos, CA solutions are promising in the
  future as 802.11-like wireless increases in range

23
Conclusions

• Implementing rural broadband is necessary and
  will be difficult
• The real problem is the lack of demand for
  broadband.
• As demand increases to a high percentage of the
  population, telecoms will reach their trigger
  point for that community
• If private sector continues to fail the public,
  municipalities will conquer legal restrictions
  and complete the rollout where needed