Education Policy, Business and Technology

Cost to Connect Rural America: $19 Billion or Less

THE Journal: A group of private and public organizations said that, for less than $20 billion, every unserved rural school, library, health provider and community college in the country that doesn't already have high-capacity broadband could get it and share it out. In a new study, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition proposed that high-speed internet be fed to these "anchor institutions," which could then act as "middle-mile" providers to distribute the service to surrounding users through a mix of wired and wireless technologies.

The report comes on the heels of a Trump administration infrastructure plan that includes $50 billion set aside for rural projects, distributed to states in the form of block grants, and another $20 billion for unspecified "transformative projects"; both reference the possibility of increasing broadband facilities alongside road, bridge, rail, port and water initiatives.

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