Connecting Washington to the World

Rural Broadband

The internet powers the economy, inspires our imaginations and provides an essential connection to family and friends. Yet some communities in rural Washington State have yet to be connected, leaving many people without access to fast, reliable broadband. Cable broadband providers are committed to being part of the solution, building out high-speed networks to all corners of the state. However, in some hard-to-reach areas, government support is needed for cable or other providers to offer service. But some simple changes to federal programs will encourage participation by all providers, quickly speeding up deployment in these areas. We want to ensure that all Washingtonians—whether they live in rural communities or large cities—have access to our nation’s opportunity infrastructure.

The federal government spends billions of dollars each year to promote broadband deployment in unserved areas. More accurate maps will help locate unserved communities and ensure that this funding achieves the goal of ubiquitous broadband for all Americans. Congress recently enacted a law, the Broadband DATA Act, that will result in better maps.

Deploying broadband networks to rural and remote areas is a massive undertaking, and often relies on the availability and costs of access to utility poles. Internet service providers usually must work with utility pole owners that provide electric or telephone service in order to extend their broadband networks. The rates these pole owners charge to access the poles is often excessive and can stop a broadband provider from being able to provide service to an area that lacks it. To bring broadband to unserved areas we need transparent and reasonable processes that ensure a fair distribution of costs between pole owners and entities seeking to use the poles.

Providing internet access to remote areas with low population density, wide-spread geography and challenging terrain, creates a unique problem for deploying physical broadband infrastructure. However, by utilizing various innovative technologies, ISPs now have good options to deliver high-speed internet to the most rural of areas. To best meet the challenges of providing broadband to the farthest corners of the country, ISPs need the flexibility to adopt technology-neutral solutions to meet current and future needs. All scalable options should be considered when providing high-speed service that is beneficial to consumers.

Due to factors including large distances between households and difficult terrain to build on, there can be enormous costs to build broadband networks in many rural communities. Federal programs, sometimes including public-private partnerships, offer ISPs some support to expand their networks and can be beneficial when properly implemented.