STILLWATER, Okla. — Once upon a time — early in the 20th century, actually — electricity was a new thing, limited to large cities. It took time, money and a lot of work to bring electrical power to rural America.
Today, that history is repeating itself with highspeed internet access.
“Electricity fundamentally changed rural America, and in the 21st century, researchers and policymakers understand the so-called digital divide is similarly important with repercussions for quality of life and economic development,” said Dr. Brian Whitacre, holder of the Sarkeys Distinguished Professorship in Agricultural Economics with Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Broadband access contributes to many quality-of-life factors, including business location decisions as well as residential ones, research finds. While today’s goal is to provide broadband to all, defined as internet speeds of at least 25 megabytes per second by the Federal Communications Commission, bringing broadband to sparsely populated rural areas isn’t cheap.
Research conducted by a number of scientists, including Whitacre himself, has shown providers that service rural locations tend to focus on the number of houses in an area, with some consideration for education and income levels but with less emphasis on other characteristics.
“This makes sense in that broadband service providers can spread more of their initial fixed costs over a greater number of customers and may cater to households more likely to subscribe to their services given the well-established link between broadband adoption to education and income levels,” Whitacre said.
Bottom line: It is more cost-effective to focus on customers per mile than miles per customer, which was a major issue of rural electrification back in the day. But that issue was solved. Whitacre believes the digital divide in rural America can be overcome as well, and he is working to do so.
— Oklahoma State University
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