Analyzing the Real Cost to Finish the Job
Even with aggressive investments like the IIJA, connecting all Americans to broadband remains unfinished. While the cost of achieving universal broadband is high, the cost of not doing so is even greater.
How much will it cost to bring scalable, future-proof broadband to unserved and underserved Americans?
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.
Broadband vs. Band-Aids
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.
