Even investments as aggressive as the IIJA will not finish the job. But while the cost to bring broadband to all is high, the cost of failing to do so is higher.
To estimate the cost of constructing fiber to all unserved and underserved locations in the United States, Vantage Point Solutions utilized assumptions based on its real-world experience with engineering deployments in rural markets, a more realistic estimate of the number of unserved and underserved locations, and accounted for inflation and market-driven price increases.
Over the long term, it is much more cost effective to build a scalable network (fiber optic cable) the first time rather than incrementally upgrading it as users’ demand increases. If networks were built to fulfill “just-for-now” needs, the total cost over time would be multiples higher.
The full version of the paper is available for download here.
