Technological breakthroughs lower the cost of broadband service to isolated customers

Two years have passed since the completion of the National Exchange Carriers Association’s (NECA) Broadband Study. 1 This paper examines two of its conclusions: (1) the prediction that 65% of rural telephone company lines would be broadband capable by 2002, and (2) the $5.6 billion price tag for upgrading remote lines. The “remote line” issue is especially important because these lines were classified on the other side of the digital divide as the “have nots” of the high-speed Internet age. As this article demonstrates, the “capability” prediction was accurate, but rapid technological breakthroughs have reduced the cost of upgrading remote lines considerably. A rural telephone company can now offer many of its remote customers broadband service where in the past the cost was prohibitive.