An NCTA-funded study claims that the Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service (RUS) poured "millions of dollars in grants and loans (into) areas where a significant majority of households already have broadband coverage" and that "the costs per incremental home passed are therefore far higher than existing evidence suggests should be necessary."
The study, developed for the trade group by Jeffrey Eisenach and Kevin Caves of Navigent Economics, harshly assesses how RUS distributed $2.5 billion in stimulus funding that was supposed to help unserved rural areas move into the broadband space.
"The RUS approach of funding duplicative coverage is directly at odds with the National Broadband Plan recommendations and should massively increase the cost of extending broadband to all unserved homes," the report stated.
For more:
- see this news release
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