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The Rural Broadband Cost Study estimates the investment dollars needed to upgrade rural study area lines in NECA's Common Line pool to broadband capability. Included in the estimate are plant upgrades on the customer side of the switch. Not included in the estimate are investment expenditures on DSL equipment, switch and backbone transport to other service areas or the ongoing maintenance of the upgraded network necessary to provide broadband services.
The results confirm two widely held beliefs about wiring rural America for broadband service that seem contradictory on the surface. First, the estimated bill for completing the job is enormous, about $10.9 billion. Second, rural telephone companies are rapidly deploying a broadband capable network. According to the study's respondents, about 65% of rural lines will be capable of providing broadband service by 2002. This fact, coupled with the ambitious rollout of data-network services documented in NECA's Access Market Survey, show that rural telephone companies are trying to meet their customers' needs for high-speed lines. Whether the pace is quick enough for policy-makers, or the targeted penetration rates are high enough for them to accept, will determine the funding needed to reach public policy objectives.
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