Internet services has long been slow for the Winnebago Tribe in the state of Nebraska, reports the Wall Street Journal. Now the U.S. government “plans to fix that by crisscrossing the reservation with fiber-optic cable — at an average cost of $53,000 for each household and workplace connected.”
While that amount exceeds the assessed value of some of the 658 homes getting hookups — at a cost of $35.2 million — “the tribe is also starting an internet company to run the network, creating jobs and competing with an existing provider known for slow customer service.”
While most connections will cost far less, the expense to reach some remote communities has triggered concerns over the ultimate price tag for ensuring every rural home, business, school and workplace in America has the same internet that city dwellers enjoy… The U.S. has committed more than $60 billion for what the Biden administration calls the “Internet for All” program, the latest in a series of sometimes troubled efforts to bring high-speed internet to rural areas… Providing fiber-optic cable is the industry standard, but alternative options such as satellite service are cheaper, if less reliable. Congress has left it up to state and federal officials implementing the program to decide how much is too much in hard-to-reach areas…
Defenders of the broadband programs say a simple per-location cost doesn’t capture their benefits. Once built, rural fiber lines can be used to upgrade cell service or to add more connections to nearby towns…
Some of the differences can be explained by the distinct geographic areas the programs are targeting. While the FCC program included some suburbs and excluded remote locations such as Alaska, the programs run by Commerce and USDA specifically targeted far-flung regions with difficult construction conditions. “These are some of the most challenging locations that there are to reach in America,” said Andy Berke, administrator of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. He cited one project in Alaska that involves a 793-mile undersea fiber cable to reach remote villages.
