Rural Broadband Economics: A Review of Rural Subsidies
In a paper commissioned by NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association and USTelecom, the authors examine communications networks, road networks, and electric power networks as three key network infrastructure industries; and the resulting vulnerability in low-density rural areas with the highest need for targeted subsidies. By the very nature of network economics, each industry exhibits economies of density and each reaches a point at which un-subsidized provision of service in low-density areas is not viable.
